


Channels (on hiatus)

by kissperingniall, tomlinshota



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-07
Updated: 2014-06-10
Packaged: 2018-01-07 22:12:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 41,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1124977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissperingniall/pseuds/kissperingniall, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomlinshota/pseuds/tomlinshota
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Famous YouTubers Harry Styles and Niall Horan meet at a party and immediately kick things off. Afterwards, they are inseparable, which leads to speculation that they may be more than just friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Photobooth Challenge and Curiosities

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a post made by tumblr user ztoran. I've been wanting to write a fanfiction based off of it for a while now and with the collaboration of my lil sis, here is the first go at it!! We hope you enjoy it as much as we love writing it xoxox Sammie

_It all started out with two simple YouTube channels._

_Just two boys fooling around with videos because they were bored. Yet, isn’t that how it usually happens nowadays? Boredom leads to inevitable popularity all because someone decided to broadcast their daily lives in vlogs? Certainly, none of this generations parents expected their children to be so interested in others’ lives that they would forget their own._

_So with heavy integrity, I literally mean it when I say that no one really expected any of this to happen. God knows they didn’t. But the series of events that follow…_

_Well…_

_They couldn’t have been more perfectly planned out, even if the two had wittingly known it themselves._

_  
_xxx

 

“Goooood mornin’ mates! It’s been a few days since I’ve uploaded a new video fer ya so I thought maybe I’d peep by for a sec and tell ya a story.” Niall beamed into the webcam, grinning from ear to ear. Sometimes he absolutely hates how awkward he seems on camera, but that’s usually only when he’s filming. Afterwards, he watches over for editing purposes and typically shrugs it off and posts the vlog on YouTube. A day in the life of Niall Horan doesn’t get any simpler than that. “So I was hangin’ with me mates out by the pond and all of a sudden, this group of girls literally jumps right in, and they were all naked! I know what you’re thinkin’. ‘Niall, you’re such a pervert’, but it was surprisin’. The boys and me had to hide in the bushes, cuz I’ll be quite honest with ya. This wasn’t the first time this has happened. I don’t know what’s up with you girls in Mullingar, but some of you have some problems with keepin’ your clothes on.” He shook his hands at the camera nervously. “Not that I’m sayin you have issues or nothing. I’m just pointing out that…” Niall begins to blush and he buries his face in his palm. “Oh gosh,” he laughs. “I’ve gone and made a right fool of myself, haven’t I?

“Anywho… so as some of you know, in my spare time away from the camera and school, I dabble a bit in playing the guitar and writing songs, and guess what? I finally finished me first song. It’s pretty rough, but I’ve been practicing and I’ll probably make a video of it next week to show ya.” There’s a curt knock at the door. Niall’s blue eyes moved away from the camera and avert straight towards the door on the right of him. “Who is it?”

“It’s Liam. Open the door, mate. Gah! Why’d you lock it? Are you wanking in there or somethin’?”

If Niall wasn’t embarrassed before, he was now. He put a finger up to the camera and quickly unlocked the door. “I’m in the middle of a video right now. Can’t you come back later?”

“I mean, can’t I join in?” Liam asked, a slight begging tone in his voice. “It’ll be fun, I promise.” He glanced at the blond and arched an eyebrow. “So? What do you say? There was this one thing I wanted to show you as well and I think you’d like it.”

Now Niall was intrigued. With a roll of his eyes, however, he let the Wolverhampton boy inside his flat. “Now what is this thing you’d like to show me?”

“Go to youtube,” Liam ordered, sitting down on the edge of his bed. “Type in ‘photobooth challenge thatsmystyle, with no spaces. It should be the first one to pop up in the results.” Liam snickered a little as Niall minimized the webcam app and went to youtube, typing in what he had said. “There’s a cute guy in there.”

That normally would’ve caught Niall off guard, but since the day Liam finally confessed what his sexuality was (so what if he liked cuddling or even fucking with boys?) the blond just let a little snicker pass his lips. “Whatever you say, loser,” he teased, clicking on the first link.

Seeing a curly-haired boy on the screen and hearing the guy talk immediately made Niall interested. He wasn’t so sure what he was interested about (his hair? his voice? oh god, his voice…) but he found himself animatedly watching him.

“So, is this the cute guy you were talking about?” Niall laughed -- because wow, if it was, Liam had good taste.

“No, the cute guy comes up later with him. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s cute too.” Liam announced with a little smile on his face. “That guy’s name is Harry. I like the Louis guy.”

Niall again rolled his eyes at the way his best mate was acting and snickered, continuing to watch the YouTuber introduce his friend, who was actually pretty good looking as well. “Damn all these hot guys.” He said with a mutter. The two boys were trying a “photobooth challenge” which was two people messing around with Mac’s photo editor and having one trying not to laugh while the other did obnoxious shit. “This is actually hilarious!” Niall laughed.

“See? I told you!”

“No, you only told me that guy was hot and that I should look up his video just for him.” Niall countered back, causing the other to drop his gaze and stutter. “Bingo, I win.”

“Louis also has his own youtube page.” Liam’s pout made the other roll his eyes. “What?”

“I bet you immediately subscribed to him.”

“...M-Maybe…!”

Niall shook his head and laughed loudly, throwing his head back to emphasize how ridiculous all of this was. But he found it adorable that Liam had a crush on an internet personality. It was hard for the guy to even find someone he was interested in because honestly he was too damned picky. Staring at the still of Louis and Harry, Niall could see what the attraction was.

“All right, I have an idea.”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s do one together. This one time,” Niall started, looking at the far too enthusiastic brunette with a cautious stare. “If it goes well, then I’ll think about having you join me in others.”

Liam grinned. “You’re being mean about this but I’ll take it!”

Niall laughed again and moved his mouse over to where his webcam application was. Clicking on it, he realized that it was still recording. “Shite,” and he facepalmed instantly, hissing at himself for his stupidity.

“What?” Liam looked at him with wide eyes and then towards the screen. He automatically eyed the flashing red light and suddenly understood. “You’ve been recording this whole time, Niall.”

“Shut up,” he growled and felt his cheeks go hot. He was certain that there were very incriminating visuals of him drooling over Harry. Which, he would deny till the day he dies because he didn’t like guys. Liam was still grinning at him like he knew. “Oh shut up, Li. You ready to do this or what?”

Liam nodded quickly. “What are you going to do about your video though?”

“Erase all the evidence,” Niall whispered determinedly. He stopped the recording and stashed the video file away.

 

xxx

 

Harry woke up way too late that day. He couldn’t remember for the life of him as to why he’d ended up staying up into the silent hours of the morning, but as his shuffling toward the bathroom, he’s hit with the sudden realization that he has an awful hangover. Sighing, he declared he wouldn’t go out drinking with Louis again but that’s a complete lie. He always went out drinking whether he wanted to or not because Louis was as stubborn as they come. But it’s all in good fun really.

After taking his morning wee, Harry slid out of the bathroom, rubbing his freshly washed hand over his eye and headed into the kitchen to have a little brunch. Glancing at the clock, it’s a little past two and he’s feeling awful for wasting half of the day away. “Ugh... I feel bloody awful, mate.” He’s really yelling it at Louis but he’s not even remotely close to the kitchen. Peeping around the corner, he’s not in the living room either. “Where in the world did...” his voice trailed off as he slowly moved in a haphazard zigzag back to their bedrooms. Louis wasn’t in his own room so the only place he can be is...

“Lou, why are you on my laptop?” Harry grumbled, pressing his hand to his forehead, thinking maybe it might help make his head stop throbbing. Fun fact: it didn’t.

“Just checkin’ somethin’ out. And good afternoon to you too, sleeping beauty.” Louis teased, rolling his bright blue eyes. “Anyway, come here, someone sent us a video response to that one thing we did. The photobooth challenge or something. I’ve been watching it and they’re actually hilarious.” Louis snickered before biting his lip and glancing at Harry like a child. “One of them is pretty hot.”

“Don’t be so weird, Lou, you’ve never even spoken to those people. Start it from the beginning I guess. By the way, why don’t we have any medicine? I’ve got the shittiest hangover ever.”

“I keep telling you to drink water in between your shots but you never listen to me,” Louis sang, feeling a certain dominance over the latter. “That’s probably why. But as for the medicine, I don’t know. I haven’t used the last of it, so that’s your fault, bucko.” The teasing voice was back and Harry let out a small groan before moving onto the bed with the smaller brunette. He watched as Louis began to start the video from the very beginning and that’s where he saw him.

That blonde.

Feeling a little bad now for criticizing Louis on his “cute little crush,” he tried to hide his pink cheeks when the kid started talking. “His name is Niall Horan, and he apparently runs a vlog? He’s pretty cute too, but wait for his friend.” Louis quipped from Harry’s side and watched, anticipating for his arrival even though he’d seen the video before.

The blonde had now introduced his friend as Liam (and Liam had no famous youtube blog, as they had noted) and it’s now that Harry sees Louis clench his fists.

“I want to meet him.”

Harry glanced now at his face, Louis’ eyes trained on the screen. “I know you want to meet him, and maybe you could. Just calm down, maybe try in the description box and see if Niall actually put Liam’s private youtube somewhere.” He tried compromising with Louis’ thoughts and he heard the other let out an exasperated sigh. “Come on, Lou, just watch the rest of the video without looking like you want to fuck him the minute you see him.”

That surely got Louis out of his trance and his eyes widened, glaring at the curly-haired boy with a scowl on his face. Harry smirked. Got you, Lou, he thought victoriously before turning his attention to the screen. The blonde sure was cute, but he’d never let Louis know that, because then there’d be this huge fight about why Harry was telling him to keep Louis from drooling all over the keyboard when really Harry wanted to do the same thing.

Thinking of that fight made Harry laugh and it’s then that he’d realize it probably sounded strange to suddenly laugh, but he quickly altered it to make it seem like he was laughing at the video. “That face though,” he commented when he saw Niall’s head being played around with some editing tool they had used.

Louis, who still wanted to punch Harry for saying that, quickly nodded. “They are totally losing at the ‘try not to laugh’ part, though.”

“Then again, so did we, so…” Harry flashed the other a cheeky smile and Louis shifted to shove him with his foot. “Ew, when’s the last time you took a shower? Your feet smell.”

“Put a sock in it, bastard! I took a shower this morning!”

It took a mere matter of seconds before the two of them laughed at the pun Louis had accidentally made. “Anyway, the video was actually pretty funny, I want to check out this kid and see if there’s anything else.” Clicking away on the mouse, Harry had left Niall’s video to go to his vlog, which was actually set up pretty nicely.

“Is Liam in any more videos?” Louis asked, now lying down on his stomach like he had been before. “Please look, his voice was so soothing.”

“You’re sounding really creepy,” Harry teased, gaining a pout from the latter. “I’m just joking. Maybe. I don’t know, can you be attracted to voices?”

“Short answer is yes, I can, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.” Louis defended, causing his pout to grow into a scowl. “I’m also attracted to him too. I wonder if he has any other tattoos besides on his arms.”

There was a slight blush on Louis’ face that caused the other to groan loudly. “Oh my god, where the hell are you thinking he got a tattoo?!”

“Just on his chest, you fucking pervert!” His face was red with embarrassment and he rolled his eyes before widening them. “Wow, okay!” He squeaked, his blush eventually dying down. “I mean, maybe he does have some on his chest, which would be nice. Chest tattoos are nice.”

“You think every tattoo is nice.”

“Says the human tattoo gallery.”

The two stared at each other, narrowing their eyes before Harry muttered out, “touche,” before turning his attention back to the screen. He gave it a few moments before standing from the mattress. “Well, Lou,” he patted his knee with a small smirk. “I’m gonna hit the shower. And don’t you dare think about flushing the toilet. I’ll lock the door anyways.” Harry remarked before slipping down the hall quickly and ducking into the bathroom. Louis heard the door click once it’s locked and he chuckled.

“Hmm...” he hummed softly, staring at the paused image of Liam and poked the screen lightly. “Why do I have to suddenly be attracted to someone I probably won’t ever get to meet? Oh bollocks, I’m such a twat sometimes.” He cursed to himself before resting his head back on one of Harry’s soft pillows. He stared up at the ceiling as he thought hard about his next move.

The nice part about Louis was that he always had something up his sleeve and always found a way to get what he wanted.

Then it hit him.

Quickly getting up from the bed, he checked the hallway to make sure Harry was still in the bathroom taking his shower. Smirking, he knew the younger boy would be in there for at least another twenty minutes, which gave him plenty of time to concoct his little scheme and Harry would be none the wiser.

Well, that was, until the plan had fully been enacted.

Opening the webcam application Harry uses for his videos, he took a deep breath, suddenly getting a nervous feeling in his stomach. “Louis, calm down…” He told himself, thinking about what to say for the video. He was just going to talk about some of the tattoos he’s seen on people and why he likes tattoos and then nonchalantly push this huge hint in it, and just thinking about it was making his hands shake. With his heart racing, he clicked the record button and it was time to begin.

“Obviously since you can hear the stupid Brit in his shower -- or, maybe you can’t -- that means I’ve gotten the chance to hack Harry’s computer and make a video all by myself.” Louis snickered, keeping eye contact with the camera. “Alright, since I don’t think Harry has addressed this, and since he’s a walking tattoo gallery I don’t know why he hasn’t, but I’m going to talk about my favorite tattoos on others.”

The point of this video wasn’t pointless at all, Louis figured while he continued talking about Harry’s (and his friend Cher’s) tattoos and what he liked about them.

Now is the perfect time to say it, Louis thought and his heart sped up. “But the one tattoo I like the most so far belongs to this one person I saw on a vlog channel. His name is Liam and the only reason I saw him was because of a response to some video Harry and I did, and I really like that tattoo he had on the side of his arm. I can’t remember exactly what it said, but I really liked the placement. That’s another thing about tattoos, the placement…” As Louis trailed on with his speech on why placement is important, his heart eventually returned back to normal speed.

Hearing the shower turn off, Louis realized that he didn’t have time to edit it and so he quickly ended with, “alright, the twat just got out of the shower, so I’ll just have to post this and get it over with. Alright? Alright, later. Boobear out.”

Louis laughed at the last part and finished recording, figuring he only had a few minutes until Harry was back. He worked silently and rushed to put the video on youtube, titling it as ‘I really like tattoos’ and clicking upload.

He groaned when he realized that it would take at least thirty minutes to actually upload, and out of boredom, he finished writing in the description and tagging it and whatnot to make it better and easier to find.

Easier to find was what Louis had hoped for. He hoped Liam was with Niall again so that they could watch more of Harry’s videos and see the new uploaded video.

He hoped to make Liam blush with his stupid little comment about how he liked his tattoo.

Hearing Harry walk in, Louis quietly and sneakily minimized the tab it was open on and just decided to open another window Harry was bound to get on. He closed out of the application that was still running and looked up when Harry mumbled out a, “what were you doing?”

“What, no hi? You’re so mean, Harry.” Louis batted his eyelashes, pouting when he did so.

“Sorry,” Harry’s smile was back and he sat next to him, arching an eyebrow. “No, seriously, what were you doing? You only have a new tab open.”

“I was…” What was he doing? He couldn’t really say that he was making a video and uploading it to Harry’s account. That was just too honest and Louis didn’t want that just yet. “I was just playing Bejeweled and I accidentally exited out.” The pout grew and Harry’s eyebrows now furrowed together.

“You… Play Bejeweled? Since when?” The curly-haired boy had questioned, glancing at him, his eyes screaming ‘just tell me what you broke, idiot’. “I don’t remember you saying you liked that game.”

“Yep… Just love it. Just love how you select the jewels and make them… do the thing,” Louis’ nervous but forced laugh made Harry look at the computer again, his senses now decoding anything and everything that Louis has open.

“...You have two windows open. Show me what you were doing.” Louis shook his head. “Is it porn that you were looking at? Dude, that shit will get viruses on my computer, get it off!”

“It’s not porn, you fucker! I just was uploading a video I made about tattoos on to… On to your account.” Louis admitted and once he saw that it clicked in Harry’s mind, he rolled his eyes. “I just have to meet him, at least once. And I really liked his tattoo! That’s all, I was just giving him a compliment… I’m hoping Niall will see it and send it to Liam.”

“You don’t even know what he’s like,”

“That’s the risk I’m willing to take.”

“You don’t even know if he has a girlfriend, Louis!”

“I just said I liked his tattoo! I didn’t ask to suck his dick!” Louis shrieked, crossing his arms defensively. “Just calm down! You’re freaking out. And plus, I think the video is almost done uploading.”

“Whatever… I’m just saying, that if he does have a girlfriend and she sees that, she definitely will not like you anymore.” Harry muttered, shrugging a shoulder and running his hand through his semi-wet hair. “But, I guess you’re right.”

“Like always.”

xxx

 

_Nialllllllllllllllllllll._

 

Niall sighed when he saw the text pop up on his phone with a little chime. He took a swig of his beer. He usually didn’t like it from the can, but it was better than nothing, and he really didn’t feel like getting ready just to go get drunk at the pub down the street. Not only that but Liam wasn’t exactly one to drink. He used to only have one kidney but he had since received a transplant. Every now and then, Liam would drink, but he didn’t make a habit of it.

What a sad shame.

 

_Yes ?_

 

_Have you taken a look at your replies on the video we posted ?_

 

_Umm... no. what did somethin happen ?_

 

_Louis made a video and he mentioned me in it. :D_

 

Niall grinned. He sat in front of his laptop, setting his his beer next to it on a coaster and pulled up his youtube account. Clicking on their most recent video, he saw the response instantly and decidedly selected it. He drank from the can again while watching Louis rant on about tattoos he liked and then almost choked on the liquid when he made a quip about how Harry was a living tattoo gallery.

He reached for his phone, typing his message out while keeping his eyes trained on the screen.

 

_Harry has tattoos._

 

_Mhm. But I thought you didn’t like tattoos ?_

 

_I said I didn’t want any, not that I didn’t like em._

 

Liam sent a reply but Niall ignored it as he continued to stay focus on the video. Louis had literally made a shout out to Liam and he got a funny feeling in his stomach. The last bit of the video had him smiling.

 

_Pfft. Boobear._

 

_Oh shut up. He’s still hot._

 

_Sure. Just like a teddy bear hahahaha_

 

Liam didn’t reply back so Niall let him be for a while. He really wanted to get out of his flat. It was so quiet and lonely and he wished that Liam had chose to stay with him instead of Zayn, but those two were almost inseparable it was shocking that they weren’t married. Niall chuckled at the thought. “What a strange idea.” He crushed the beer can and tossed it into the trash can, barely getting it in as it bounced off the rim and right into the bag. He did a little jump hoot and led his happy butt over to the fridge to grab another.

Lazing against the counter, Niall practically chugged the drink in one gulp. He didn’t realize how thirsty he was, or maybe he was just trying to process how Louis and Liam seem to have some sort of strange connection to one another. It sort of unnerved him and he didn’t get it. With Liam being off with Zayn all the time and then suddenly getting a boyfriend it would leave him even more alone. He’d had to make new friends.

But he didn’t want to make new friends.

“Ugh,” he groaned, throwing the now empty can at the trash bin but missed that time. “Fuck. Whatever,” and he grabbed another. On the second sip, there’s a knock at the front door and he moved to answer it but his unexpected visitor let himself in anyways.

“Hey Nialler! Stop moping around and come celebrate with me and Zayn,” Liam announced cheerfully.

Niall quirked an eyebrow. “What for?”

“For the fates actually dawning on my love life. C’mon, don’t you see? Louis and I are going to happen.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Niall arched an eyebrow. “...You’re actually being serious about this? I mean, you got a shoutout, which is really cool, but that doesn’t mean that you two are going to ‘happen’.”

“Don’t be such a downer,” Liam frowned.

“C’mon mate, why are you being such a twat,” Zayn commented, joining Liam’s side from the hallway. “This isn’t like you.” Niall glanced to his dark haired friend and shrugged.

“I just don’t find it healthy to hold onto something that’s pretty much a fairy tale.”

“I think you’re just being a twat.” Zayn repeated and they exchanged glares.

Liam butted in immediately. “Okay okay, c’mon you two, let’s just go have a few friendly drinks and get some of this negativity off our chests.” Then he looked sideways at Niall and nudged him a bit. “Hey, if you think positively bout this, you may just meet Harry too.” Niall squinted his eyes at him almost as if he was just offended.

“All right, let’s get going!” Zayn hollered before Niall could input anything to the situation.

  
  


“So, I’m thinking I want to send Louis a response video,” Liam piped up as the three sit in a booth at one corner of the dimly lit pub. It was their usual place to just hang loose and let go, but as much as Liam tried to lighten the situation, Niall only seemed to bring things down.

“Just give it up. Not going t’ happen,” he was probably on his seventh beer and although he didn’t think he was drunk, Niall definitely was.

“What did I tell you about being a twat?” Zayn warned.

Niall waved him off.

“I’m going to do it,” Liam smiled at Zayn.

“It’s not going to work. He might’ve just been being nice is all.”

“Niall I swear if you don’t stop, so help me I’ll--”

“What? Tell me mum? Bah! Don’t be an idiot.”

“You’re drunk.”

“And you’re stupid,” Niall bit back at Zayn and they glared at one another.

Liam kept an eye on the blonde, a small pout forming on his face. He knew that it was a stretch, but Niall didn’t understand how Louis was acting as he said that. Call him crazy, but he felt like he genuinely liked him back, and it was making him upset that Niall didn’t think so.

“Niall,” Liam cleared his throat, looking straight at his best friend. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure mate, what’s up?” Niall turned his body towards him and waited dizzily for Liam’s question.

“Are you... perhaps... lonely?”

Niall gulped, bright blue eyes going wide because damn that someone actually saw right through him. “What the fuck does that mean?” He slurred, not really wanting to have this conversation right now. Of course he was, not that he’d let him know. Liam was already busy with being delusioned by the fact that this youtuber was in love with him.

“You know exactly what it means…” Liam kept his voice a steady level, hoping not to disturb the other, since he felt like this was a sensitive topic.

“I mean, I guess. Whatever. Could we not talk about it here? How about we continue talking about your wet dreams about him?” Niall muttered, earning a glare from Zayn and Liam’s brown eyes widened, his face turning a beet red. “Even when I’m smashed I’m still able to get you,” he cheered, ordering another glass.

“I-I don’t have wet dreams about him! N-Niall, come on, that was totally uncalled for!” Liam was still blushing furiously and it made the blonde laugh. “I’m being serious… I don’t do that, I can promise you.”

“Alright, whatever you say.”

 

xxx

 

Waking up the next day and grabbing Harry’s phone just to piss him off, Louis entered in the passcode and started looking through it. Not his fault the bastard slept in here instead, since they had stayed up late looking at Niall’s videos and then some movies. Finding out that someone had responded to his tattoo video, he clicked on it curiously.

He recognized the username immediately (because, who else had the username niallhoran) and he prayed to any gods that it was Liam who did the same thing as Louis did.

Plugging in some headphones so the pesky twat couldn’t hear it (who knows what he wakes up to) Louis pressed play, not expecting to see what he saw. There he was! Liam! Louis smiled as soon as he heard the boy talk (with a drunken Niall in the background) and he started rambling off about that tattoo Louis had mentioned.

“Everything I wanted, but nothing I’ll ever need,” Louis repeated it after he had said it, smiling to himself as the words left his mouth. It was fantastic, the tattoo, and he found himself blushing over the way he talked about it.

Okay, maybe he was blushing over just Liam talking, but that was beyond the point. Finally, Liam pointed out all of his other tattoos before asking about his. The question made Louis replay that last part. He wanted to know what tattoos he had?

There was movement beside the boy and he found that Harry was waking. “...What are you doing with my phone?”

“Shhh, Liam is talking,” came the automatic response that immediately shut Harry up for a matter of seconds.

“...Please don’t make another video that’s just you discreetly trying to get him to notice you,” the youngest pouted, “why don’t you get his skype instead, like a normal human?” Louis heard that and paused the video, glaring at the other.

“How would I get his skype if I didn’t make another video telling him I’ll show him my tattoos when I get his said skype?” Louis asked, arching an eyebrow in annoyance.

“...Wow, okay, you fuckin’ got me.” Harry muttered. “It’s called a comment, and you type it in the comment box. It’s even below the description box. Come on Lou, I thought you knew how to work youtube.”

“I do not need your sass today, Harry Edward Styles.” The other hissed matter-of-factly, and clicked on the comment box, typing out: ‘this is louis, i really want to skype you some time !! we should try it soon. PM me back whenever you can i guess ! x’

He smirked.

He really didn’t know what he was trying to accomplish (besides getting his skype, because how sweet would that be?) by adding the little “x”. Maybe he just kept it because it looked cute and he was trying to sound endearing instead of creepy.

Though, making a video and mentioning something about a guy’s tattoo is kind of creepy as well.

But eventually he hit ‘comment’ anyway and soon his response was on the video for Liam to see; which then, of course, made his heart race faster. “What if he doesn’t want to skype me back?” came the worried question from the equally frightened boy.

“He made a video responding to your silly video, I’m sure he desperately wants to talk to you.” Harry said earnestly, albeit tiredly. “Just shut up and wait, that’s the best you can do.”

Louis glanced back at the comment before sighing. “Yeah, I guess so.” It was still nerve-wracking as he closed out of the internet app and handed Harry’s phone back to him. “The best thing we can do is wait.” He repeated.

 

 


	2. You're Special

“And so, I was telling Harry that the cat was absolutely a shite but he still tried to pet it and it scratched him,” Louis was in the midst of telling Liam a shoddy story about Harry and his curiosities when it came to cats. It really wasn’t that funny of a story, but Liam was so fond of the guy he laughed anyways. Louis smiled straight into the camera, hoping it’d get a warm reaction out of Liam even though it was only a conversation on Skype. “Bloody served him right, innit? I mean, c’mon. What twat goes up to a stray cat and expects it to be the sweetest animal ever?”

“Hey! The cat looked friendly. Don’t mock me for my love on animals,” Harry called from the living room. Louis snickered. There was a faint sound of boos on FIFA and then the loud thud of hands smacking the carpet and he’s certain that Harry had lost. “I hate this game! It’s rigged.”

“Don’t hate the game, love. It’s not its fault that you’re shite at it.”

“Shut up.”

Shaking his head, Louis smiled back at Liam who was patiently waiting with a bright grin on his sweet puppy like face. The two had exchanges Skype names and had been talking for the past three weeks. It was almost a blur that they had been harmlessly flirting through stupid YouTube videos and now here they were, shamelessly giving one another goo goo eyes through a camera.

“You and Payno gonna get off soon? I want some food,” Harry asked, stepping into the doorway of Louis’ room. The older boy looked up and shook his head.

“Why don’t you order some take out or something? Not really feeling like cooking or goin’ out tonight, mate.”

Harry groaned in frustration. “You said the same thing last night and the night before. C’mon Lou, my bum can’t handle anymore issues from take out. Feel like I’ve been pooping for days.”

“That’s disgusting,” Louis grimaced and Liam laughed.

“It’s true. Fine, maybe I’ll just make food for myself and you can get something later on your own.”

“Hey it’s all right if you want to go out and get food, Lou. Zayn’s about done with dinner anyways and I’ll have to get off soon,” Liam mentioned and Louis instantly jutted his bottom lip into a pout.

“But Leyyyyuummmmm~” He whined but the other just shook his head while chuckling.

“I’ll talk to you later, kay babe?”

Reluctantly, Louis nodded his head and slowly waved good bye. “Miss you already.”

“You too,” and the connection is cut.

Sighing in exasperation, Louis plopped back on his bed, staring at the ceiling in a daze. “Is it crazy if I say I’m already in love?”

It’s a rhetorical question but Harry nonetheless gave a reply. “Yes. Now get your arse up so we can go get some food.” There was another pout from the boy on his bed and Harry rolled his eyes. “Come on, I’m hungry.”

“I know you are, but shush. I’m thinking.”

“Never a good thing,” Harry retorted before crossing his arms, leaning against his doorframe, waiting for the other to get up. “Can’t you think while doing other things, you know? Multitask? It’s a thing, you should try it.”

“You are so sassy today, I don’t understand.” Louis let out a small snicker before finally getting up, striding across to his closet. “I wonder if he’s ever liked Zayn before. I mean, Zayn’s pretty cool, from what I’ve heard… And I’ve only talked to him a few times, but I wonder…--”

“Louis, you’re letting your mind wander and then your mood is going to drop, just let it go. Think about how much Liam’s in love with you instead and go off of that.” Harry muttered, waiting for Louis to change out of his sweats into a nice pair of jeans. “I mean, it’s pretty clear he likes you, and plus, Zayn has a girlfriend, doesn’t he?”

“Well… Yeah, but…--”

“But nothing,” Harry interrupted, glancing over when Louis finished getting changed. “You’re so defensive sometimes about him. So what if he liked Zayn before? He likes you now and that’s all that matters.” Louis shrugged a shoulder, putting a hand in his sweatshirt pocket.

“I guess you’re right. Come on, let’s go get food, you big baby.”

“Finally!” Harry cheered, throwing his hands up in the air (overdramatically) in victory.

“Come on, drama queen.”

“You’re one to talk.”

 

xxx

 

Harry groaned when he heard the slight whispers coming from the other side of the room and automatically made a mental note to never fall asleep in Louis’ room ever again. “Of course you’re Skyping with Liam, what else could you be doing at eight AM on the computer?” Harry’s grumble caused the other to rip out one of his earphones.

“I couldn’t help it, and he asked me first.” Louis hissed, glaring at the sluggish form on the bed. “Plus, you were a bed hog and I had nothing else to do.”

“You’re so weird.” Harry said, rubbing his eye before climbing out of the bed. “What have you two been talking about now? Wedding plans?”

Louis threw a spare pillow at him. “Shut up! We weren’t, but you’re so funny.” He sneered, crossing his arms before looking at the boy on the screen. “Isn’t Harry just so hilarious,” he said with a pout.

Louis heard Liam’s laugh. “I will admit, that was pretty funny though,” Liam ducked his head, because he was blushing a bit as well too. “I mean, we have been talking a lot.”

“That’s not a bad thing! Is it?”

“Of course not!”

“What did he say?” Harry asked curiously and Louis swatted him away with his arm. “Wow, rude. Liam, you should know that he’s so mean.”

“Harry! Go piss in your cereal!” came the shriek from the Doncaster boy and he buried his face in his blanket, hiding away from both of them. Harry stepped into the camera view and shrugged before laughing and walking off.

When Louis heard the door close, he immediately popped up from the blanket and looked at the screen, a pout decorated on his face. “He’s the mean one, Lee-yum.”

“I’m sure he just likes teasing you, Lou.”

“Maybe...” Louis trailed, looking to the side and staring blankly at a bobblehead on his nightstand. It’s stupid, but it’s a little puppy and he got it out of one of those toy slot machine things at the arcade. Harry teased him for it, but it reminded him of Liam in an endearing way so he sort of treasures it. “So umm...” Louis began until the distinct sound of Zayn’s strong accent fills the room.

“Hey Li, I’m not sure what sort of drinks to have at Perr’s party. I want people to have a good time but I’m not sure I want them pissfaced ya?”

Liam turned around to face the Bradford boy, his arm leaning against the back of the chair to support his weight. Louis can’t help but stare at his defined bicep. He’s gnawing on a hangnail when he winced in pain, noticing he’s practically drooling. “Well, we could just simply get beer. Ya know Nialler will have a fit if we don’t get any, and if anyone wants something hard then they can bring their own liquor, ya?” Liam paused, and then remembered something. “ Did you finish up the guest list? Get all the girls on the surprise as well?”

“Ya,” Zayn replied and went to move back to the kitchen in the background but suddenly turned around and hurriedly shoved Liam out of the way, the swivel chair rolling feet away from the computer desk. There’s a faint “Hey! What the hell?” from Liam, but it fell on deaf ears. Zayn’s got his perfectly symmetrical face in the camera and a sudden grin stretched across his face. “Hey Louis, do you have any plans for the tenth of July?”

Louis thought about it carefully. He’s usually so bad with dates and he doesn’t really jot down when he has plans. Harry gives him shit for it, but he typically will remember the night before so it’s not really that big of a deal. After mulling over the date for a few moments, Louis shook his head and asked curiously, “Why?”

“Think maybe you and Harry could make a trip out to join us in celebrating my girlfriend’s twenty-first?”

Liam quickly popped into the frame of the screen and is nodding eagerly at the brunette on the other side of the camera. “C’mon Lou. We’d get to meet and maybe if Niall meets Harry he’ll stop denying he has a crush on him and finally get his head out of his ass.”

“And maybe something in it,” Zayn quipped and cackled loudly.

Louis can’t help but mimic him. “Sure. You said the tenth?”

Zayn nodded in confirmation.

“All right, I’ll mark it on my calendar, and if I have to, I’ll drag that giraffe by his curls.”

“Perfect.”

 

“Oh c’mon Hazza~ You’ll have so much funnnnnn~” Louis whined but Harry wasn’t hearing any of it. All this was going to be was Harry becoming the third wheel to Louis and Liam’s love fest and then he’s going to have no choice but to get drunk off his arse and he really wasn’t looking forward to the idea of nursing a hangover.

“No. God Lou, just go on your own for fuck’s sake.”

Louis began to pout, looking up to the taller boy with big blue eyes. “But you’ll have so much fun. Why not?”

“I refuse to be a third wheel. What’s so complicated about understanding that?” Harry started to stalk off towards his bedroom.

At first Louis wasn’t going to mention it, but since Harry was being completely stubborn about the whole idea, he decided to throw in a little breadcrumb. “Niall will be there, ya know.”

Harry stopped mid step and looked over his shoulder slightly. “Come again?”

“Niall. Will. Be. There.” Louis accentuated with a devious smirk.

The tall brunette visibly stilled and kept his sight on Louis just in case this was all a trick to get him to join. “Seriously?”

“Dead. He’s Zayn and Liam’s best mate, why wouldn’t he be there? It’s at a club though, so you’ll have to look nice. Just promise me not to put a blazer on and sweat yourself out of your clothes.”

“Being naked is freeing. And I don’t think I actually said I’d go.”

“Ah, but you didn’t deny it.” Louis smiled.

Rolling his bright green eyes, Harry conceded. “All right. But once you begin to lose the ability to stand, I’m taking you back home.” The agreement was simple and Harry sighed, running his fingers through his hair thoughtfully.

 

xxx

 

Niall was glancing around the huge room, trying to spot the curly-haired guy Liam said was coming. Liam, who was next to him, noticed how his eyes kept scanning from person to person and he snickered. “Don’t worry, they’ll be here soon!” He said confidently over the loud music.

“I still think you’re a weirdo for hooking up with someone over the internet.” Niall mumbled back, rolling his eyes before beginning to look around again.

“What?” Liam called.

“Nothing!” Niall responded back, louder this time, a smirk painted on his face. “It was nothing, I swear!” He assured the other when he felt him glaring at him. “I’m just waiting for him to not show up, wouldn’t that be hilarious?”

“Stop doubting yourself!”

“You haven’t even met Louis in person! What if he’s a maniac?” Niall huffed, crossing his arms and continued to try and spot Louis’ friend. “What if they’re both maniacs?”

“Okay, now you’re just being rude.” Liam shoved the other playfully and rolled his eyes. “I’ve actually had a conversation with both of them and they’re nice people! Just wait and see.”

“A conversation? Only one?”

“You know what I mean!”

There was a blur out of the corner of Niall’s eyes before he finally noticed that the said blur was just a pair of arms that wrapped around Liam’s neck. “Surprise!” He shouted loudly, giggling and finally letting go of the taller boy so that he could stand in front of the two. “You’re definitely taller in person! I wonder if you’re bigger somewhere else as well!”

There was a loud cough that erupted from someone else’s throat and the curly-haired guy stepped out from behind them, grabbing ahold of Louis’ arm. “I’m sorry about that; he’s not making much sense, he kind of drank on the way here, sorry about that again,” he rambled, noticing Liam’s pink face in the dark neon lights. “Must’ve got you good, hasn’t he? Oh well, he probably messed up the punchline but I’m sure you’ve got the jist of it. Oh, I’m Harry, nice to meet you both in person.”

Niall kept an eye on Harry, smiling a little at the way he flashed a cheeky grin. “I’m Liam,” he said (to be honest, the blond was surprise he was able to talk without stuttering) and gestured to the blond himself. “And this is Niall, as you already know.”

“Yeah…” Harry said, “nice to meet you both. Um, Niall, would you like a drink?”

Niall glanced up toward Liam before nodding. “I’ll come with you to get it.” Maybe he was imagining it, but he swore he heard Harry snicker as he slightly pushed Louis onto Liam and the two of them were out of there, fast. “That was actually really awkward, what he said.” He admitted when they were at the bar they had set up. Niall looked around, knowing they only had beer here (plus a few other hard liquors that he really didn’t want to get into right now) and he saw Harry’s curls bob up and down, almost like he was nodding his head. “Does he always get like that when he’s drunk?”

“Shockingly, yes. Well, actually, that isn’t really shocking, you’d expect it from him. Normally he keeps the jokes and sexual content straight, though. I mean, not ‘straight’ but like…” Niall caught a hold of Harry biting his lip and trailing off. “I meant like, he doesn’t get the punchline right…”

“I understood, don’t worry.” Niall smiled when Harry handed him a beer and relaxed next to him. “It must be hard living with him.”

“Nah… I mean, he’s a pain in the ass, but he’s sometimes okay. He’s really funny, you know.” Harry snickered, shrugging a shoulder. “I like living with him. What about you?”

“I don’t live with anyone. Liam and Zayn live together.” Niall could see Harry’s thought process backtrail and he’s almost stuttering before he decided to shut up and take a sip of his drink. He doesn’t know why, but the blond immediately laughed. Maybe it was because of how he could watch Harry flinch and shut up, or maybe because the way he did it was so damn cute. “It’s fine, no worries.”

“Well, maybe I could live with you,” the brunette leaned closer to him, smirking.

“Only in your dreams, Harry.” They laughed again, watching the crowd dance to the dubstep music Zayn had picked. “Even though it needed some work, that was suave as fuck,” he complimented, causing the other to nod, putting a hand up defensively.

“Alright, alright, I’ll work on it. No need for such harsh criticism.” They were back to teasing each other again and Harry’s laugh rang through Niall’s ears, and oh god, was it a perfect sound. Even with the blaring music in the background and the loud talking it was perfect. Niall caught eye of Liam and Louis dancing in the corner and he nudged Harry in the rib. “What?”

“They already look like they want to fuck,” Niall commented, causing Harry to roll his eyes.

“They’ve already wanted to fuck,” came the other’s reply and Niall shrugged a shoulder. “Oh well, just let them do their thing, Liam’s letting Louis do his, so…”

“And Liam isn’t drunk yet, so that must mean he likes it.”

“Exactly…” Harry finished his drink and sighed, looking over at the blond. “Do you want to dance?” He asked, mouth curling up in a hazy smile.

“Dancing would seem like fun.” Niall chugged the rest of his before throwing it away, taking Harry’s hand and following him out into the crowd.

“Come on, Niall!” Harry shouted excitedly, hauling the blond after him. Niall rolled his eyes, because Harry knew he was following him, so he didn’t make a sound and continued holding the boy’s hand until he dragged him out to what seemed to be the middle. The song was fast and upbeat, with no words (or, with no words that Niall could hear) but Harry didn’t seem to mind. Niall watched as others grinded up against their partners and saw Louis doing the same, but Niall still kept his distance, in case Harry didn’t want him doing that.

“What do we even do, do you just jump and flail around if you don’t want to grind up against someone?” Niall shouted toward the dancing brunet and he just shrugged before nodding his head.

“I’m assuming that’s what you do!” Harry laughed again and Niall decided to go for it, finally doing the same.

 

xxx

 

“Drunk people shouldn’t have cake,” Niall hissed, flicking off a piece of cake that was stuck to his jacket sleeve. “It was Perrie’s cake, and granted she had a lot of it, but you wouldn’t think that someone would just decide to have a food fight with it!”

Liam rolled his eyes, having a drunken Louis cling onto him. “Only because you wanted to eat it. We did get to eat it, you just didn’t get to have seconds because someone got in a fight and started throwing it everywhere.” Louis leaned over and licked a bit of frosting off of Liam’s face. Niall grimaced.

“Can’t you two do that in the shower later?” Harry muttered from beside the blond and Louis rolled his eyes at the comment. “I’m being serious. Don’t do it here, with other people still here. Anyway, come on. Liam, it’s not that I don’t trust you but I’m gonna have to take Louis ho--”

“I wanna ride home with Liam!” Louis interrupted and Harry scoffed. “Don’t you sass me, Harry! I want to ride with him.” He giggled. “I also would like to ride hi--”

“Alright, fine! You can ride home with him! Just don’t say any more, please.” Harry begged, rolling his eyes once more. “I’ll just take Niall home then.”

“Eh?” Niall arched an eyebrow. “O-Oh, yeah, that’ll be cool.” He said with a smile, shifting closer to the brunet. “Liam, just make sure Louis doesn’t touch my stuff. And also, please don’t make a sex tape.”

Liam blushed furiously and widened his eyes. “We weren’t going to! Oh my god, Niall!” Hearing the blond snicker made Liam sigh and he helped carry Louis off into his car.

“Well, should we get going?” Niall asked, turning back to Harry with a proud smile on his face. He felt his phone buzz and he arched an eyebrow. “Hang on.”

 

Paparazzi is here, they still know you’re in there ! Watch out ! ;)

 

“Apparently, from what Liam told me there’s some paparazzi or some shit out there,” Niall informed the latter. “I guess our videos really do make us famous,” he snickered again, smiling brightly.

“Bring it on, paps. I’m ready for ya.” Harry challenged, throwing a fist in the air.

 

xxx

 

They waited the swarm of paparazzi out. Niall and Harry sat themselves at the corner  booth, looking out at the still raging club scene. Harry didn’t really figure he would actually get along as well with Niall as he already had and it was a sort of comfort that he hadn’t felt in a while.

Even with Louis to be perfectly honest.

Not to mention that seeing him up close in person was the biggest shock he’d experienced all night. He really did his best to keep his cool but truthfully, he was down right starstruck. Louis didn’t know it, but Harry had actually been following Niall’s vlogs from the very beginning, just skulking the interwebs silently and always pulling up his YouTube videos in an incognito window. It was an instant crush from the very beginning and even more surprising, it was when Harry really figured he didn’t have much of a preference for girls or guys. He’d always dated girls of course, but looked at attractive guys from afar.

His mom and sister both knew it from the very beginning, of course they didn’t say anything, because honestly, what would they have said.

So here they were, knees knocking and their shoulders so close that it felt almost dirty and Harry had no idea as to why he felt so... strangely naughty.

It wasn’t like they were doing anything unusual. They were just sitting there, watching others dance along to the club mix booming on the overhead speakers. But the way that the lights flashed and reflected across his porcelain face was so beautiful and stunning and those eyes were so bright and blue and Harry just couldn’t get enough of staring at him.

Slowly, Niall turned to meet his eyes and smiled brightly, the apples of his cheeks popping up and practically waved at Harry. “So, what d’ya think we should do bout the paps?”

“I don’t think they’ll be giving up any time soon.” Harry answered, nervously glancing to his palms. “Maybe we should just leave and deal with them?”

“Mmmmm, we could,” Niall began. “But maybe I’m not ready for this night to be quite over?” and his eyebrows moved upwards as his mouth curved into a wild smile. “Mr. Styles, how d’ya feel about doing a few shots with me?”

“Hmmm,” Harry trailed as his rested his chin into the palm of his hand. With a wide smile he answered, “I thought you’d never ask.”

 

Fifteen shots in and Harry and Niall were both slammed. Niall patted Harry’s back in a friendly manner, laughing as he did, and exclaimed, “Man, you sure know how to drink someone under the table.”

Harry’s leaning against a wall somewhere near the entrance of the club. He’s sure his phone keeps buzzing in his pocket but with all the buzzing he’s currently feeling, he could just be imagining it. As a reflex, he pulled the device from his pants and finds three texts and five missed calls from Louis.

 

_Oh my god Harold! Liam is the sweetest!_

_God I just want to fuck him but at the same time I want to romance him, do u understand where i’m coming from?!?!?!_

_Harold, please just don’t come into my room when you get home._

_Actually, just stay wit Niall. I’ll see you in the mornin’_

 

Harry actually snort laughed at his screen, Niall looking over at him curiously.

“Waz so funny?”

Attempting to contain his laughter, but failing at it, Harry just passed over his phone to the blonde. Those pretty blues just widen as he takes in the context of the texts.

“Oh wow. Wow Liam. Way to get that one in the bag.”

“They’ve been talking about seeing each other for weeks,” Harry provided, even though he was almost positive Niall knew. “It’s about time they figured things out.”

“Ya know, I made fun o’ Li when he was crushin on Louis pretty hard.”

“Yeah?” Harry quirked an eyebrow. “I did the same to Louis too. It was good fun for a bit, but then it started getting old when they actually were talking.”

“I hear ya. Pretty much thought I’d lost me best friend.” There’s a beer in Niall’s hand and he drank from the bottle. Harry can’t help but watch as those long eyelashes slowly close and brush against freckle speckled cheeks. After swallowing the liquid, his eyes averted towards Harry.

Harry gulped.

“But I don’t think it’s so bad actually.”

“No?”

“Nope. Made a cool new friend out of it,” and he gestures his bottle to him before downing the rest of it. Niall made a sound that expressed feeling refreshed and turned back to Harry. “Well, you think we should face the paps now?”

Harry shrugged and both of them head out towards the entrance, fully prepared to be encountered by the throng of thirsty gossip mongrels. It’s like a sea of mosquitoes, Harry can’t help but think. Almost instantaneously, they crowded around the two of them and all of the prodding questions began.

“Spotted! Well known YouTubers Harry Styles and Niall Horan are leaving a mutual friend’s party at the same time!” One of the reporters says into the camera, her mic pressed against her glossed lips. She pointed the device towards Niall once he passed by and asks, “Is there anything special going on?”

All he does is look to her with the biggest grin and answered, “We sure hope so,” before heading out with Harry to the taxi. Harry glanced over to the Irishman and was in complete awe. Either it was the alcohol in his system or he imagined it but Niall had just said the most crediting sentence pertaining to their relationship, that really wasn’t much of anything but a few drinks between friends. But what if Niall had come here just as Harry had, with the intention to start something?

What if Niall harbored a crush as well?

It was wishful thinking, but something in Harry’s gut told him that he was far from wrong.

 

xxx

 

Liam glanced up at the sound of his phone vibrating on the desk. Thinking for a quick, sharp moment that he was actually home, he got up and grabbed it, only to be reminded that this wasn’t his bed and that it was just his alarm going off. He sat up, arching an eyebrow. “Okay, if I’m here… Then where is Louis?” He asked himself aloud and got up, walking across the room to the door.

Looking out into the hallway he saw the bathroom door open with the light on, and a Louis standing in the way, hunched over the sink. “Louis?” When he came closer, however, he realized that the boy was resting on his elbows and had a pair of tweezers up to his eyebrow. “...You’re serious?”

“Gotta have a strong eyebrow game, otherwise you’re not gonna go far.” Louis continued on, pulling out a few hairs and wincing. “Beauty is pain.”

“This is ridiculous,”

“Come on, you little slut, let me just grab you and pull you out,” Louis muttered under his breath, causing the other to step back.

“Um… What?”

“I was talking to this stupid eyebrow hair! God, I hate doing this.” He grumbled, eventually plucking it out and cheering in victory. “Fuckin’ finally. I’m almost done, let me just work on the finishing touches.” He backed away from the mirror, staring at himself before leaning back on the counter. He plucked a few more hairs out, sighing and examining himself again. He turned to Liam, walking closer and standing close to him. “Does it look okay?”

“You look fine, babe, I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“...Don’t lie to me, do they really look okay?” Louis asked before glancing back at the mirror. “I feel like they’re… off.”

“It’s just because you’ve been staring at them too long, now let’s go, they look fine. Let’s go back to bed, alright?” Liam suggested, grabbing the tweezers from his hand and setting them on the counter before leading him back out. “It’ll be fine. I just never knew you plucked your own eyebrows.”

“Did you think it came naturally?” Louis laughed, letting himself be dragged along by him. “Of course I plucked them myself. Wouldn’t want anyone else to do it. Would you let me do yours?”

“Uh… As much as I am flattered, no. I’m fine, my eyebrows are fine, Lou. I think you need rest. You’ve been obsessing over eyebrows.” Liam said with a snort and Louis rolled his eyes, eventually getting back into the bed. “Do you feel better now or something?”

“Yeah, kinda.” He paused. “Well… Actually, no. I want to know what happened between Harry and Niall. I can’t remember if that’s because I passed out before they got home or if they didn’t really do anything. Let’s go look!” It took Louis only a second to get back up and he grabbed the taller boy’s hand, a pout decorating his face. “Oh, come on! Please?”

“Louis, it’s their privacy! Just like ours is ours, okay? I don’t think it’s a good idea if we go and bother them.” Liam muttered, shrugging a shoulder. Louis’ curiosity immediately deflated. “What?”

“Nothing, I didn’t mean we had to go bother them! I… I mean, I guess that was my original plan but I want to see if they made it to the bedroom first.” Louis hissed, crossing his arms and glancing around the room with a scowl on his face. “And you didn’t have to bring up our decision last night.”

“Of course I did, but whatever. I mean, if you want to go and search around, that’s fine. I guess I’ll have to monitor you though, to make sure you don’t go into his room or bother them.” Liam finally caved in and followed the older boy down the hallway to the next room over. Louis cracked the door a bit and peeped in to find Harry and...

Wait, it’s just Harry.

Louis, dumbfounded, pulled away from the door and closed it quietly, his lips flatlined and eyes void of expression.

“Lou?”

“Shh,” he whispered, pressing a finger to his lips before checking the room again, unimpressed when he saw just Harry again. HIs legs are spread out across his bed, one of them limp over the edge of the bed. One arm was covering his face and his head was turned so they could only really see his neck. “Well... I’m shocked.” Louis finally murmured as he closed the door again and looked up at Liam. “Niall isn’t here.”

“What? Then did he go home?” Liam questioned, reaching for his phone in his back pocket. Upon checking the device, there’s a single text from Niall.

Took Harry home last night but thought I’d head back to my place. haha hope you had a good nite! :)

 

Liam’s arms fell limp at his sides and he looked straight ahead. “Well it really does seem like NIall went home. Maybe they didn’t quite hit it off?”

“Impossible!” Louis exclaimed, flailing his arms about in an over dramatic fashion. He paced the hallway, almost deep in thought before he suddenly glanced up with a gasp and darted straight for the living room, turning the tele on immediately.

“What’s up?”

“Checkin t’ see if Gossip Girl did any scoops on the party last night,” he replied, flipping the channels till he found the right one. “Ah! See they were leaving the club together last night and...”

“Is there anything special going on?”

“We sure hope so,”  Niall said and Louis paused the screen.

“Whoa.”

Liam’s almost stunned, hopping over the edge of the couch to seat himself next to Louis. “That’s rather forward, especially for Niall.”

“Maybe they really did hit it off last night.” Louis mumbled.

 

Harry woke up with the biggest hangover he’s had since... well since ever. Even drinking with Louis never had him feeling this shitty. So while rolling over on the bed, it was only natural for him to feel just a bit nauseous, so much so, that he reached for the waste bin and thoroughly desecrates it with his retch. “Ugh,” he groaned, wiping his foul tasting mouth before grabbing at the water bottle on his nightstand. He doesn’t remember leaving one there before he went to bed last night.

Actually, he doesn’t really remember getting home.

The one thing that does keep racing around his dizzy head was the image of Niall and his bright smiling face. So many images are tattooed there and he inwardly made a joke about how he really is the human tattoo gallery.

Struggling to get up, Harry sat up in bed, resting his head against the cool wall. His phone is carefully placed next to him and there’s a message left for him when he goes to unlock it.

It’s Niall.

And it’s a video message.

 

 _“Hey Harry! Hope you don’t feel too much like shite, but if ya do, I left four Advil next t’ the water bottle for ya. Oh and I just want t’ say that I had a fun night with ya. We drank so much that I’m sure I’ll be feelin’ it in the mornin’ too.”_ He laughed and Harry’s heart practically jumped right out of his chest. Grasping his torso, he attempted to calm himself but to no avail because that stupid blonde is so unbelievably charming it’s downright got him in a headlock. _“If ya wake up and I’m not there, don’t worry much. I went home so I don’t gross ya out and so that you don’t feel like you’re equally disgusting. Hangovers are ugly business, mate, and I’ll respect that we keep that part of each other a secret for a while. But I’ll be over later tomorrow to pick Liam up so hopefully I’ll see ya soon.”_

 

It’s cute actually, this whole video business. All this time it’s been Liam and Louis exchanging videos, but behind the scenes neither of them suspected that they would get on so well. It was almost criminal and the smile that was plastered to Harry’s face was making his cheeks sore but he didn’t care much.

There’s one more message in his inbox from Niall.

 

_You’re pretty special Harry._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, we got two chapters out today!! Hope you're enjoying this :3 sadly the next few days we'll be busy with going back to work/school and I'm moving so I'm not sure we'll get to update until maybe this weekend, we'll see though. Send us feedback! Let's us know if there's anything you'd like Harry and Niall to make a video for! We'd appreciate anything you lovelies have to say xoxox Sammie


	3. Among VidCon and Other Things

“Ever heard of VidCon?”

“VidCon?

“Yeah, it’s a video convention in California. I’ve been savin’ me money t’ go. I think you should too, Haz. It’d be a lot of fun.” Harry couldn’t help the smile that slowly was strewn across his dimpled face. Niall had recently given him the nickname and he couldn’t keep from smiling every time he said it.

Harry tapped his chin teasingly, pausing and humming a bit to put the blond on edge. He knew Niall wanted him to go, but of course, he wasn’t going to give in that easily without a fight. “Hmm… And how much does it cost again?”

“Just the same amount as you would to go somewhere else.” Niall answered calmly; however, Harry noticed he was itching at his palms -- another piece of information he gathered while learning more about the Irishman. “I mean, I’m sure ya could afford it!”

The curly-haired brunet was back to tapping his chin again. “And… For how long?”

“Just like three days, or something along those lines…” Niall mumbled, glancing up and batting his eyelashes at him. “Come on, please? It’d be a fun time.”

“Something tells me you’ve learned that little trick from Louis, that’s how he gets everything he wants.” Harry rolled his eyes before sighing. “But, I will think about it. I’ll see if Louis would want to go too -- unless Liam’s not going? Or, we could just let them do whatever and we can go to VidCon ourselves.” He laughed, cracking another dimpled smile toward the other.

“That might actually be a good plan.” Niall snickered, shrugging a shoulder. “That way they can’t bother us.” It was supposed to be a joke, but he immediately dropped his gaze from the taller boy.

“U-Um, yeah. We could stay up all night too, or something, and just hang out in the hotel room. It’ll be fun,” Harry said, trying to lighten the blond’s mood by lightly tapping his shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about it, I don’t know why you got so flustered about that. It was just a sentence, and I know you didn’t mean it like that.”

The smile was back on Niall’s face and he nodded before punching his arm playfully. “Yeah, guess so. I just didn’t know how ya would take it. It was worded weirdly.”

“It was more of an innuendo, but I understand what you mean.” Harry gripped onto the spot he punched, faking a pout. “You’re so mean, Niall…” he teased, rubbing the inflicted wound. Niall rolled his eyes.

“Don’t get your panties in a bunch, I didn’t even hit ya that hard.” Niall scoffed, crossing his arms. “But, thanks for thinkin’ about it. It’ll be fun, I promise.”

“Promise?” Harry snickered, arching an eyebrow.

“Promise. Cross my heart and hope to die.”

 

xxx

 

“I say you go without me!” Louis chimed, his legs crossed and hands gripping at his ankles. “It’ll give me an Liam some privacy to erm...” His voice trailed and a sudden blush lit up his cheeks. Harry smirked widely, completely understanding where the older boy was talking about.

“You don’t have to tell me twice. Just be... er... Safe I suppose,” Harry said, patting Louis’ back lightly, and lowering his wide smirk into a soft smile. “I mean, it’s been what? Three months since you two actually started dating?” Louis nodded. “I think maybe if you think it’s the right time then...” He trailed off, because the conversation was getting kind of awkward for him.

Louis nudged Harry’s side and grinned. “So what about you and Niall? When are you going to finally ask him out, hmm?”

Harry blushed instantly, flinching away from the other, feigning offense. “Never. He and I are just friends.”

“Oh? Well I don’t know about you, but ‘just friends’ don’t undress each other with their eyes all right? The sexual tension whenever you two are around always makes me feel like I need to give myself a wank.” Louis gripped the collar of Harry’s shirt and began shaking him. “Do you know how often I wank Hazza?!”

Prying Louis off of him, Harry grasped his head, trying to keep himself from getting too dizzy. “No, and I don’t want to know. Besides, I do not undress him with my eyes. I don’t think of Niall like that.”

“That’s a load of shite, mate.”

“Fuck off.”

“Planning on it, actually.”

“You’re bloody disgusting. Why do I talk to you?”

Louis smiled and crooned into Harry’s side, resting his head on his broad shoulder. “Because you love me~ and I’m your best friend~” he sang. Harry just brushed him off, rolling his eyes.

“As if,” and he got up, heading towards his room.

“Where you off to?”

“To see Niall. I need a break from your insanity.”

“Kay love you bye!”

“Fuck off,” Harry smirked, grabbing his keys.

 

xxx

 

This was the first time Harry had actually made a flight out of the country. Actually it was the first time Harry had gone anywhere on a plane. Looking to his right, Niall was sitting beside him, resting against the window of the taxi, his long eyelashes kissing his cheeks softly. He had his arms across his chest and Harry could tell he was out for the count. He really didn’t blame him. It had been a sixteen hour flight, and they had to wake up at four to make it to the airport in Dublin. They had made a stop in Philadelphia and only had enough time to grab a little something from McDonalds before boarding for the second part of the flight. Niall slept most of the time, and mostly slept against Harry’s shoulder, not that he really minded.

In fact, Harry was beginning to realize that maybe he did have a little bit of a crush on Niall. Not that it would be such a bad thing. Actually, Niall had to be the most attractive guy he’d met and he was so funny it was killer. He didn’t even mind the surplus amounts of food he seemed to gobble down as if there was no end to his stomach. Not to mention how infectious his laugh was and he would just light the room up the second he walked in. So yeah, saying he had a little crush on Niall would be an understatement.

A small smile itched at him as he watched the blonde sleep away. He was softly snoring and Harry couldn’t help the tiny laugh that escaped his throat. Pulling his phone out, he began to videotape him sleeping and promised to keep it to himself only--well that’s not creepy, oh god what is wrong with me?--but when Niall began to wake, it was so fast that Harry had no time to put his phone down before Niall smiled and pulled his own out and started to videotape him as well.

“Filming me while sleeping, Styles? What a low blow, gettin’ me at me weak point now.” Niall joked with a laugh.

“Well what do we have here? A vlog stand-off?” Harry smirked, eyeing those beautiful blue eyes over the top of his phone. “You think you can out vlog me?”

“Mate, I know I can out vlog ya.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Maybe, but you still like me.” There was a chuckle that emitted from the blonde's mouth and he shrugged.

“I only can tolerate ya,” he teased, rolling the same blue eyes that Harry had been staring into. “And even sometimes I can’t do that. But, if ya wanna try and out vlog me, go for it.” Niall gave Harry a smirk and immediately mumbled out, “I see you.”

Harry let a laugh slip past his lips as soon as the latter had said that response. He didn’t know why, it was just hilarious how out of everything that he could’ve said, he went with the obvious. Sure, he would’ve done the same thing if he had started, but now he was actually kind of glad Niall mumbled that sentence. “Well, thank you very much, Captain Obvious.”

“You’re welcome, Sargent Sarcasm,” Niall hissed back, another smile forming on his lips.

“See? You have been hanging around Louis too much, I think his sass is rubbing off on you.” Harry muttered, a pout decorating his face. “Too much sass is a bad thing, just let Louis tell ya that. Well, actually, no. He’d say something along the lines of ‘it’s a gift!’ or ‘some people just aren’t as sassy as me and that’s sad’ or something completely idiotic and not needed like that.”

“I like how easily you can predict him.” Niall commented quietly. “It’s almost like you two have been brothers for your whole life. Or, like a couple that’s been married for fifty years. It’s crazy.”

Harry bit his lip at how hushed Niall became and he shook his head. “I think I like the brothers theory the most. Louis and I are just friends, don’t worry.” He smirked, poking Niall’s cheek. “Look, it’s a leprechaun! I’ve never seen one in the wild before! They’re mainly loud and happy, however, not jealous and upset! Poor leprechaun, what’s wrong?” Harry spoke in an Australian accent (which wasn’t very difficult) into the camera, making sure it was pointed and up close to Niall.

Niall’s jaw clenched before he swatted the camera away. “I’m not jealous! I’m not upset either, and I’m not a wild leprechaun!”

“But you’re Irish though.” Harry noted, pointing at him with his index finger.

“That’s so stereotypical.”

“Looks like the leprechaun is gettin’ feisty! And sassy, not to mention, just like mah friend at home!” The Australian accent was back, along with the camera aimed at his face. “I’m just tryin’ to document the rare sighting!”

“This leprechaun is going to punch ya in the face if ya don’t stop callin’ me a leprechaun.” Niall barked, even though there was a slight grin on his face to let Harry know that he’s joking.

“You just called yourself a leprechaun though.”

There was a moment of silence before Niall’s body completely turned forward, his eyes closed and his lips in a scowl. He grabbed the side of his head with his hands and doubled over, cursing to himself. Harry snickered at the sight.

“And there we see it getting aggravated! What an interesting sight!” He exclaimed, still managing to keep the Australian accent going as he continued on making little notes about Niall. How he glared up at him after he had said that, how he leaned back in his chair, and how he had finally muttered that he was going to break his phone if he continued. “Do I win the vlog competition?”

“No way. If you can do it, I can do it, giraffe.”

“I am not a giraffe!”

“That’s not what Louis said before the party.”

Harry grumbled, crossing an arm over his stomach when he leaned back into the seat. “Well of course he’d call me a giraffe. He’s just pissed because I’m taller than him.” Harry turned the camera back to himself. “By the way, I got the idea from a certain Viner, who’s really funny with that kinda stuff.”

Niall snickered in the background, pointing his camera on the curly-haired boy. “And you have not won any competition yet, Haz. There’s still going to be hotel rooms and restaurants that I will film you and I’m going to get you back.”

“So, I’ve won this battle?” Harry perked up, a wicked grin forming on his face.

“Maybe,” Niall sighed in defeat. “But I will win!”

“Will it help you sleep at night?” Harry joked, nudging him playfully.

“Winning? Oh yeah. But don’t you dare go easy on me!”

Harry grinned, turning the camera to his face again, “There ya have it everyone! This weekend will be full of Niall and I trying to out vlog each other, wonder who will win!” and he turned the recording off, smiling at Niall who was giving him a crossed stare. “Just a thought, maybe it doesn’t matter who wins just as long as it’s fun. And look,” Harry pointed out the window at the convention center. Niall quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and crawled over Harry’s lap to peer out the window at the tall building.

“Wow, America sure has some mighty tall places.”

“Mhm.”

“You reckon we might get lost there?”

“Most likely.”

Niall and Harry both exchanged glances and grinned. “Let’s do it,” they say simultaneously.

 

xxx

 

“You think... maybe we went a little erm...” Harry and Niall are seated at an all you can eat buffet in the convention’s hotel. Niall had been begging to go, practically dragging Harry out of bed the second the unpacked their things. Although, that had been a bit of an ordeal.

Harry had groaned something about “Not fair that you won’t let me sleep even though I let you”, but Niall only laughed at him.

“Not my fault you didn’t take advantage of the sixteen hours you could’ve slept,” Niall had pulled his camera out was chuckling deviously. He pressed record and waited for the magic of Harry Styles to happen. “Besides, this is my bed **Harold**.” Harry just grumbled into the pillow, hugging it with everything he could muster.

“Never!”

Rolling his eyes, Niall sighed, gripping Harry’s shoulder, he tugged the boy up on his side. In an instant, those cat-like green eyes peered up at Niall softly but somehow like he were his prey. “Why are you looking at me like that, Haz?”

Grinning, Harry blinked a few times, and then slowly got up to stretch, almost like a cat, before padding at the bed with his knuckles and crawled across the bed towards the curious but intrigued blonde. “Like what, Nialler?” He mewled with that all too knowing smirk plastered on his face. His cute dimples killed Niall, literally murdered him in fact, as he tried to keep his expression calm and content while it was apparent he was nervous.

It was about at that time when Niall Horan was beginning to grasp that maybe he liked the curly haired, dimpled boy from Cheshire as more than just a friend, and that thought was seriously starting to make him quiver at the sudden closeness of said boy.

“Stop looking like you’re about to eat me. I’m not a mouse, Haz!”

Harry chuckled into his fist, looking back up at him before collapsing onto the bed and smiling, his eyes half lidded while staring softly ahead. His voice came out in a slow drawl, almost lulling Niall into something akin to seduction. “Oh, I’ll eat you up, Niall. Maybe you are my prey and you’ve only just figured it out this whole time.” He purred, arching an eyebrow.

“That would be cannibalism,” he retorted, pink flowing to his cheeks. He ducked his head subconsciously, wrapping his arms over his head. “You aren’t a cat and if you eat me, that’s illegal.” Ah, of course. The buzzkill. Niall glanced back up when Harry started laughing.

“I wasn’t actually going to eat you! You’re so funny.” He commented and the flustering in Niall’s face returned again. “I know what that would be considered. But, you would be a cute mouse.”

“Mice are gross,” came the automatic reply. Niall casually brushed over Harry’s compliment to avoid his face turning crimson. “If anyone’s cute, it would be you. Cats are adorable. Plus, you’re from Cheshire, and so it makes sense. The Cheshire Cat, you know.” Harry’s laugh echoed through the room again and Niall wondered why he laughed. That wasn’t funny, was it?

“Yeah, I guess so. I never thought about it like that.” Harry mumbled, grabbing a pillow and shoving it under his chin. He glanced out of the corner of his eye toward the blond, another dimpled smile flashing toward him. “But mice aren’t gross. They’re actually cute.”

“They squeak.”

“I’ll make you squeak.”

Niall paused for a moment, arching an eyebrow. “I’m not even going to pretend that made sense.” He muttered, looking into his phone. “Does that make sense to anyone else? They say no.”

“No they didn’t! They didn’t even respond, since it’s not even uploaded yet. Here, I’ll give you a hint -- because yes, it did make sense.” Harry snickered, shouldering the blond. He tapped his chin for a second before grabbing the back of his neck, pulling him close. Niall took a sharp breath in before Harry pressed his lips against his.

Harry was right -- Niall immediately let out a loud squeak from surprise. The brunette heard it and pulled away, snickering and smirking. “I told you.” He giggled, eventually getting to the spot he was before he had kissed him. Niall watched him carefully.

“...Was that a joke?”

“Um, y-yeah, it was. I told you I could make you squeak and you didn’t believe me, so I showed you.” Harry was confused, as it showed through from his tone of voice. “I don’t… I don’t understand?”

“Oh, nothing. That was just a joke too. I totally knew it was a joke.” The blond sighed, awkwardly getting up from the bed. “I’m… I’m going to go take a shower now…” He paused for a second before finally slamming the door to the bathroom closed.

Harry bolted up from the bed and ran to the door, knocking on it. “Niall? Are you okay? It was just a joke…!”

“I’ve gathered that, now let me bathe in peace.” Niall’s response was harsh and it made Harry backed away from the door a few inches.

“O-Oh… Um… Alright then, I apologize.” Harry turned and sat back down on his bed, glaring up at the ceiling, a twisted and confused feeling in his gut. “This is stupid,” he whispered to himself before grabbing his phone. He didn’t know what time it was where Louis was -- nor did he care, honestly -- but he was immediately dialing his number.

“...H-Hello,” Louis’ yawn and tired answer gave Harry the right idea of when it was. “Wh...Why did you call me…?”

“I need help. It’s a long story though.”

“You fuckin’ called me at one in the morning to tell me it’s a long story, obviously I have time now so spill it.” Ah, great. The sass-master is still at large -- even directly after being woken up. Harry scowled and turned onto his side. “You still there, Harold? If you don’t answer I’m going back to sleep.”

“I kissed Niall.”

It was a quick response that slipped from his mouth but he could tell Louis’ eyes shot open. “You did what?” He screeched and there was a mumble from the other side of the phone. Harry heard, “oh! Sorry, I’ll go to another room.”

If he wasn’t so confused, Harry would’ve snickered. Of course he had woken Liam with that screech, it was extremely loud and unnecessary.

“You did what?” He repeated again.

“Please tell me you’re in a different room so you don’t wake up your sleeping beauty again.” Harry grumbled, hearing the shower in the bathroom turn on. “Anyway, yes, I kissed Niall. Because of a joke, just a joke, that’s all. See, he told me how mice aren’t cute because--”

“You kissed him for a JOKE?” Louis’ voice was now filled with a certain venom that made Harry feel worse. “You bloody fuckin’ twat! That’s the first rule! Never kiss anyone for a ‘joke’!” Louis growled and the brunet heard a slam from the raging boy. “I thought I told you that! Actually, no, I did tell you that. Various times. Because it isn’t funny.”

“Louis, just shut up! I know you told me but I didn’t think about it! I didn’t think he would act so awkward around me now. I don’t think he likes me.”

“You really are stupid.” Louis hissed. “I’m going to bed.”

“Lou! Wait! Pl--” he was cut off by a click and he lied back down on his back. He screamed out a string of cuss words, glaring up at that stupid ceiling again before he heard a beep. Looking down at his phone, he realized it was from Louis.

 

_He likes you. You like him. Get it now?_

 

Another beep.

 

_Talk to him._

Harry sighed, tossing his phone to the side. “How could Louis be so sure?” He asked himself, curling into a ball. “I really screwed up.” It was about then that the tap turned off and Harry could hear Niall clamboring around in the bathroom. He really felt like an idiot, because he had just been telling himself that he liked Niall and then he went and did something as big as that and shoved it off like it was nothing to him, when really it was. That whole time he was pretending to be a cat, like a complete fool he might add, he was thinking about how he could get an opportunity to kiss the guy and he completely screwed it up.

“God, I’ve never been so mad at myself,” Harry murmured sullenly, cradling his head in his palms with a large sigh.

There’s a knocking on the wall and Harry looked up to see Niall, dressed in his usual clothes and his bleached hair sopping wet, the ends dripping on the floor. He doesn’t look angered or sad or anything, but there is something off about him. “Hey,” Harry whispered.

“Hi.”

“So... erm... about dinner. Did you... want to erm...”

“Thought you’d never ask,” Niall replied shortly, heading back into the bathroom to finish getting ready. Harry thought about his next move. Or rather, what he could do to fix things indefinitely. Niall didn’t seem upset, but he obviously was.

Typically, Harry was the type of person who could fix any problem with ease, but this time, this time was different. Because someone’s feelings really were hurt.

And Niall wasn’t the only victim to Harry’s harshness.

Sadly enough, Harry was the other victim.

 

xxx

 

“Do you think... we’ve gone a little... erm...” Harry is caught between words, eyeing the blonde carefully, but receiving no inclination of response from him. The table is covered in empty plates, all of them scarce of any remnants of food that had once been there. Niall loved food on the normal, but it seemed that he was one of those that ate their feelings and maybe Harry was regretting this whole “all you can eat” thing. He tried apologizing to the guy, he really did, but any and all efforts were in vain. “Overboard?” He decided to finish his sentence anyways, knowing that Niall would probably ignore him like all the other times.

“No. I think... That after going through a prank like that, especially since that was my first kiss,” --Now Harry really felt like an asshole-- “That I deserve to stuff my face until I explode. Any problem with that mate?”

Harry shook his head.

“Good.”

So the brunette sat there silently, taking the punishment of watching Niall stuff his face from sadness. Harry pulled his phone out and tapped across the touchpad sporadically, all the while keeping his eyes firmly placed on the blonde.

 

_It was his first kiss, Lou._

 

Harry didn’t think that he was still awake but he sent the text anyways.

 

_Fuck Hazza. Ur a bloody twat and I sort of hate u right now 2._

 

From the look of it, Louis was fighting sleep. He only ever shorted his words unless he was tired. What was it, like two over there now?

 

_I really... I think that makes three of us. I don’t know what to do._

 

Harry let out a little sigh and Niall narrowed an eye toward his direction. “What?” He asked, uninterested, and Harry shook his head.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it…” His voice was quieter and sadder; Niall noted that and crossed his arms on the table. “I was just… texting Louis. I want to go home.”

Niall’s eyes widened and Harry flinched, finally realizing that he got some sort of emotional response from the latter. “You’re leavin’?! We haven’t even gone to the con yet! Ya fuckin’ cunt! I’ll have to change everythin’ an’ I’d have t’ go alone! Do ya really want me t’ go alone? Because ya decided to leave because ya played a joke on me!”

Harry jerked back from the words spewing out of his mouth and he fumbled with his jacket. “I just wanted to…” his voice was still a whisper, and like a scared cat, his shoulders began to scrunch up the more Niall screeched at him.

“Ya wanted t’ what?” He hissed.

“I just wanted to leave so you could forget the joke I played on you…” He avoided eye contact, looking around at the other people instead. Who were staring. Oh god, they were staring. “Niall, please stop fuming, I don’t know what else to say…”

“Ya could say sorry.”

He paused. He hadn’t said sorry, but he figured that wouldn’t have done any good. Niall is still upset, angry, or whatever he was feeling. A simple word wouldn’t have changed anything, would it? “I-I’m… Sorry, I didn’t know that was your first kiss… I didn’t think it was, since you’re… You.” Harry mumbled, fingering his jacket, his pants, anything.

“...I guess.”

So we’re back to barely any responses, Harry thought sourly. “So does that mean ‘sorry’ doesn’t work?” He retorted, his voice laced with bitterness. “This is why I should leave… Just so I could let you vent, I suppose.”

“You’re not leaving.”

This time, Harry let out a confused, aggravated laugh. “And why not?” He arched an eyebrow, narrowing his eyes. “Why can’t I just leave?”

“Because that was because we planned to stay up all night and hang out in the hotel room,” Niall repeated from before they even came here and Harry paused, immediately dropping his glare.

“Until I fucked it up.”

Harry quietly stood up, leaving the keys with the blond so that he could pay and walk to the hotel. He was used to walking home from school and so walking to the hotel was no problem.

At this point, he figured that it was about his time to sulk. While it hadn’t been his first kiss ever, it was still his first kiss with Niall and the fact that he blew it by saying that stupid little sentence really pissed him off. Harry was about a foot away from the elevator when he heard the sound of something thudding against the floor repeatedly. Glancing up, Niall was hunched over, grasping his knees and panting for air.

“Wow, I really should’ve thought about running after eatin’ so much food.” He managed to let out, those intensely bright blue eyes meeting Harry’s. “Oi! Don’t just run off assuming shite. You really are being such a twat tonight. What in the hell has made you be like this today? That’s my real question.”

Harry paused. Niall was trying to understand. He was literally trying to make up and that made him want to do nothing more than to fix things.

And maybe they could figure things out together.

 

xxx

 

They headed up to their room, and stood on the balcony that had a view of the rising moon. Niall had got them a couple of fizzies, and was drinking from the bottle looking straight ahead. Harry sighed, realizing he should probably start off.

“I’m really sorry.”

“Ya?” Niall quirked an eyebrow at him. “For kissing me or for being a twat about it?”

“Being a twat,” Harry said quickly. “I could never apologize for kissing you.”

“Oh?”

“It’s like... I’ve been stuck in this world filled with denial of how I’m really feeling. I don’t know why I’ve been fooling myself, thinking that this was all just a bit of a phase and that maybe I was overthinking things. But the more that I got to understand my feelings, the easier it became for them to surface and show themselves.”

“No offense, mate, but ya kinda lost me dere.”

“Sorry, I sort of ramble, huh?” Harry grinned sheepishly.

Niall nodded. “More than sort of. What’s your point of all of this?”

“My point...” He paused, sighing while thinking carefully. “My point is that I really like you, Niall.”

Blue eyes widened, and he straightened himself, staring at how red Harry’s cheeks were. “Erm…” this was the first time for a while that he stuttered and it made Niall blush almost as bad as Harry’s. “I-I’ve… I mean, I…”

“Um…”

There was a lot of awkward pauses that made both of them clench onto the railing. “I really like you too…”

Harry’s eyes widened when he turned back to the blond. “Y...You do?” He arched an eyebrow while Niall nodded. “Louis was right.”

“Guess he was, he normally is…” Niall commented, shrugging a shoulder. “Well, I’m assuming he is. He was telling me you liked me for a while now, but I never believed him. I guess everyone knew it was obvious except for us.”

Harry let a little laugh pass by his lips for the first time in a few hours and it felt amazing to him. It felt amazing to actually know that he liked him back, and it felt amazing to know that Louis was finally right about this. “Yeah, I guess so.” Harry flashed a dimpled smile to the latter, who automatically returned the favor -- excluding the dimples, but Harry didn’t mind.

“So, what should we do about this…? Do you still want to leave?” He asked jokingly and Harry shook his head.

“Hell no. Unless you want me to?”

“Oh hell no.” Niall repeated back and snickered. “Well, maybe…” He said, his tone changing to a more serious one and Harry glanced at him, his eyebrows furrowing up in worry. “Just kidding, just kidding. See, you’re not the only one to make jokes.”

“Haha, you’re so funny.”

“I am funny.”

Harry rolled his eyes at the blond’s comment. “You would so say that,” he punched his arm playfully, causing the other to whine and rub the inflicted area. “You short cutie.”

“Short cutie? Um, excuse you? Who are ya callin’ short, mate?”

“I’m callin’ ya short, mate.” Harry tried to imitate Niall’s Irish accent, and he might of failed, but he didn’t really care at this point as a smile tugged at his lips. “You’re a short cutie. That’s what I called you.”

“I’m not short and I’m not a ‘cutie’.”

“Ah, see, Niall? That’s where you go wrong. See, you are short and you are a cutie. Case closed.” Harry teased, poking the blond’s shoulder. “I’m always right, you know.”

“You aren’t always right, you know.” He mocked, poking the other’s shoulder twice as hard. “You’re lame, though. There’s that.”

Harry’s jaw dropped, eyes widening at the insult Niall had said to him. He was faking it, though -- he wasn’t hurt from getting called lame, and plus, he knew Niall was just joking. “Well, you’re a loser!” 

Moments passed before the two fell completely silent, their laughs fading off into the ambiance of the night. They glanced away from one another, oddly shy for no apparent reason and Harry finally took ahold of some sort of unexpected bravery and reached out to grasp Niall's hand, slowly entwining their fingers together. Niall looked to Harry and produced a small smile. 

"So..."

"So..."

"What does this make us now?" Harry asked nervously.


	4. Fans and Claustrophobia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So so so sorry for our month long hiatus. January was crazy and then February snuck up on our asses like white on rice! But hopefully we'll be able to dish out more chapters faster in March and thank you for those still loving this story. Without further ado, please enjoy Chapter 4.
> 
> P.S. Sorry if it's shorter than the other chapters. 
> 
> xx Sammie

They had gone to bed almost immediately after sitting down to discuss the subject of “them”. Niall was more than apprehensive about the subject and Harry kept getting the feeling that maybe he would get rejected. It was a silly notion, especially after the two had just confessed to each other, but the thought still lingered in the back of his mind. Niall fidgeted with his shirt, wrapping it around his finger meticulously and he averted his stare away from the patient brunette. It was the longest two minutes of their lives and it was only broken by the suddenness of a crashing sound that emitted like an echo from the pool about fourteen stories below. 

Stretching over the edge of the balcony they spotted the source of the noise. There was a pack of convention goers jumping in and out of the water but several feet from the pool’s edge were three juveniles, throwing their empty and not so much bottles of beer against the ground. One of them was screaming profusely at another and Harry could faintly make out a slur of curses. He went to swing at his victim but was suddenly halted. The scene could’ve gone chaotically, if security hadn’t swooped in and quickly handled the situation. The three were apprehended and swiftly ushered away from the rest of the crowd that had slowly began to form around them. Niall and Harry exchanged glances, before the blond shrugged a shoulder. “I’m sure someone just got too drunk an’ took a swing. It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

“I suppose so.” Harry mumbled, copying Niall’s actions and shrugged his shoulder as well. Niall smirked when he realized he was imitating him. “Well, now that that’s taken care of… What should we do? I don’t necessarily want to fall asleep yet… I mean, unless you want to.” The latter laughed.

“No, it’s fine, I kinda want to keep talkin’ to ya. You’re interestin’, ya know?” Niall nudged Harry’s arm with his elbow before walking toward the bed. He took a seat and cuddled up with a pillow. Harry flushed a little, following suit and sitting down on the bed opposite of the blond.

“So, genius,” he mocked, “what should we talk about?”

“Just ask some questions, ya know. One of us can ask the other something, or we could both answer them. It really doesn’t matter how we do it.” Niall confirmed.

The curly-haired brunet nodded, tapping his chin with his index finger. “Well, I like the second option really, but I’m sure we can do either one. Now… What should we ask? I want to go first!”

Niall laughed again with the eagerness of the latter. “Okay, okay, ask away."

“Three fears you have?” Harry smiled a little.  
The blond paused. “Um… Well, the main one is claustrophobia… Which I guess you kind of figured out from my videos. I’ve mentioned it, I think, before and people have commented on it. I guess they didn’t expect it. But yeah, the others are like, spiders and… Insanity."

“Insanity?” Harry arched an eyebrow, taking in the new information and keeping it in a safe spot. Fears are especially hard to say, let alone to think about, and he didn’t want Niall freaking out. Though, it was interesting how he said the three most different fears Harry knew about. So, he only pushed the question gently, not knowing how Niall would react.

“Like, goin’ crazy and things? It’s scary and I have no idea how it actually feels to be… mentally ill. It’s definitely scary.” Niall answered calmly, itching the palm of his hands. Harry nodded quickly. “Alright, what about you, Haz?”

“Spiders, definitely.” He shivered, squeezing his eyes shut. “They are so gross.” He returned his gaze on the snickering Niall. He knew that he was getting that reaction from the blond because of his own said reaction to the mere thought. “I’m also afraid of snakes and rollercoasters.”

“I didn’t expect rollercoasters.”

“I have bad experiences with them. One word: Louis. He took me on this wooden one, and it was creaking so bad I felt like it was going to break. There’s always been this hype of them breaking and someone falling out anyway. I just don’t like them. They scare me.”

“That’s the point of fears.” They both paused for a second before laughing.

“That’s true, I suppose.” Harry agreed. “Alright, you ask a question.”

“Erm… Describe the scent… Of… Your shampoo!” He blurted out, finally grabbing thoughts in his mind even if it made a silly question. The two chuckled. Harry tapped his chin again (so, he does that a lot, Niall noted) and furrowed his eyebrows together to think. How would you even describe shampoo smells without saying ‘it smells shampoo-y’?

“Um… Well… It smells like… Pine? Maybe? Pine and cologne mixed together. I don’t know how to describe such a thing.”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. Pine and cologne? That seemed good enough. Wasn’t it?

Niall was laughing the whole time, maybe because of the faces Harry was making while thinking of adjectives for his shampoo. “That works.”

“Alright, Mr. Laugh-my-ass-off,” Harry arched an eyebrow at the latter, “describe your shampoo now.”

The laughter from the other side silenced as Niall was faced with the same challenge as Harry. “W-well… Cinnamony. Is that a word, cinnamony? I’m saying it is.” He snickered to himself before nodding affirmatively. “Yes, cinnamon.”  
Harry ducked his head to avoid having the blond see the pink that dusted his cheeks. “I like the smell of cinnamon. It’s just something about it that smells good.”

“I’m glad you think my cinnamon-scented shampoo smells good. You haven’t even smelled it yet, either!” Niall returned to snickering, leaning over the gap between the beds and poking his curls, his face, anything he could poke. “And you looking at the floor instead of me isn’t making this question thing easier.”

“Oh shush.”

“You’re blushing, Haz,” Niall pointed out with a wide smirk spread across his lightly freckled face. Harry could feel his cheeks burning, but he made no show of hiding it. It was more than pointless since he’d already been caught. Niall laughed again. “See! You are blushing!” The blonde squirmed around on the bed, his back pressed against the soft mattress, the comforter billowing out about him gently. Harry leaned over him, his curls flipping around the lining of his face, those bright green eyes observing every trace on Niall’s face. Moments passed in silence before Niall reached up and slowly caressed Harry’s face. It was strange, the closeness, but it felt oddly comfortable and Niall had never felt his heart race that fast before and there was possibility that his heart might just burst right out of his chest if he didn’t control it soon. 

“You’re blushing too, Ni…” Harry murmured, his breath hot against Niall’s skin. He didn’t even realize how close they were until their noses were brushing lightly. “You’re so cute.”

“Shuddup.” Niall gushed, trying to fight the smile tugging at his lips. His hands carded through soft curls, slowly guiding Harry down, closer to him, so close that it was unbearable. 

But Harry wasn’t giving in just yet. He smirked, “Do you want me to do something?”

“Haz…” Niall whined with a light sigh.

“Just say what you want me to do.”

“Ugh.”

Harry chuckled lightly. “Well, it’s my turn to ask a question anyways.”

“Ya.”

“Niall, do you want me to kiss you?” Harry tried again.

Niall gulped, knowing that this time was different. Something in the pit of his stomach was nagging at him, telling him that he should run because this honestly was scary. But he finally nodded, almost desperately as he gripped the back of Harry’s head and forced him closer, cutting off any distance between them. The kiss was slow and gentle, and Niall was drunk from the sensation of Harry’s plump lips melding around his almost as if they were supposed to be that way. Harry also didn’t want to speed it up at all. Hell, he wanted this to go as slowly as possible so he could soak in and register every single detail about kissing Niall. Kissing him was his main goal and he was glad he achieved it within a short period of time, just like Louis and Liam had.

No. This time was different. They weren’t Louis and Liam. They were Harry and Niall, and dammit, they were kissing in an expensive hotel bed rather than Louis’ full sized bed at home. This was different and Harry enjoyed every single minute of it.

They had finally pulled away, breathless with their lips parted. “H-Harry…” Niall giggled and Harry felt something in the pit of his stomach raging. Niall was breathtaking, beautiful even, when he was pinned underneath him, cheeks red-hot from the passionate kissing moment they had shared.

“Why must you sound like that…?” Harry mumbled, taking in the sight the best he could and the fire in his core grew wilder.

Niall scowled. “Sound like what? I didn’t sound like nothin’, ya better not make fun of me.” The blond shoved him lightly, eyebrows furrowing together as he stared into Harry’s green eyes. “I can see the look on your face, don’t try t’ hide it. Don’t tease me.”

“If you can see the look on my face, it would be clear to you that I’m not teasing you.” Those same green eyes narrowed before a smirk crawled on his face and tugged at his lips. “Unless you’d like me to… Tease you. That, I’d be able to do.” Niall flushed again, which looked amazingly good from Harry’s point of view and the blond shook his head.  
“No teasing,” he muttered, his scowl growing. “Teasing isn’t fun.”

“That’s why it’s called teasing.” Harry snickered, stroking the other boy’s hips. Niall let out a small pouting noise and closed his eyes, tilting his face upward. Harry bit his bottom lip, eyes glued to the beautiful sight of Niall’s flushed embarrassment that he actually enjoyed the touch of him. Slowly, Harry slid his blunt nails up the flank of Niall’s exposed stomach and he relished in the soft sounds of Niall’s moans. They were quiet, but they were absolutely there and Harry felt incredibly powerful over him, knowing he could probably do whatever he wished with him. However, that wasn’t the point of teasing was it? Because secretly Niall wanted this just as much but Harry, oh Harry, he wasn’t about to give Niall that full satisfaction.

While the attraction between them and their feelings were more than mutual, it was far too early for any sort of sexual contact. Harry, despite what rumors were thrown about in high school, was actually quite the gentleman.   
So in all of his amore for the blushing blonde, he pulled away reluctantly, planting a chaste kiss to his lips before rolling over on his side to lay down. 

Niall was confused, to say the least. “Oi, what was that about?”

“Just… teasing you is all,” Harry grinned, facing away from the prodding blonde. Niall tapped on Harry’s side, exerting a stifled giggle from the brunette and somehow it was amusing. 

So what did Niall do? He did it again.

And again, until he practically had Harry rolling on the bed, grabbing at his sides in hysterics. Niall couldn’t control his laughter either and he was more than amused by how adorable Harry was.

“Stop tickling me!”

“Never!” Niall sang and continued spidering his fingers all about his body, exploring every single ticklish crevasse he could find until they were nose to nose, eyes wide and mouths gaped from the sudden closeness. “S-Sorry,” Niall gushed, attempting to pull away from Harry. Harry grabbed his hand. 

“Ni… I’m pretty sure it’s quite all right,” he mused, smiling widely. 

“Are ya sure there, mate?” He asked, wanting to make sure. Harry laughed at how his eyebrows furrowed up in worry. “Don’t ya laugh at me!”

“You just looked cute, alright?” Harry responded, leaning in and giving the other another kiss. “The way your eyebrows did the thing, and your eyes just flickered, and it was…” He realized he was trailing off and he flushed slightly, causing Niall to laugh this time. “Okay, now you’re laughing at me and that isn’t fair.”

“Why isn’t it fair if I laugh at you, but you can laugh at me?” He questioned, a pout tugging at his features once more. Harry snickered, shoving his shoulder playfully.

“Don’t pout,” he argued, hopefully trying to convince Niall to switch the subject. “Although your pout is adorable, don’t do it. Not now at least, be happy.” The blond rolled his eyes, eventually pushing away from the latter, turning around and crossing his arms. “Do you understand, Niall?”

Niall glanced over his shoulder and his expression softened. “Hey umm… Are you a bit…” Niall trailed, sighing as he did. Harry was struck with confusion.

“You all right?”

“Mhm,” the blonde hummed, sliding down into the covers and pulling them up over his head.

“Ni?”

“I’m gonna go t’ bed, Haz. I’ll see you in the morning.” and just like that, the Irish lad was out like a light, leaving Harry with more confusion than the night had originally gave him. Shrugging, Harry just accepted Niall’s tiredness and slowly slid into bed with Niall, cautiously moving in next to him. The thought came to cuddle, but with the sudden strange air about them, he wasn’t even certain he should attempt it. 

I don’t think I’ve been more confused in my life. Harry thought sullenly, reaching over the blonde to click the lamp off and allow the darkness of the room to sink down on them. Staring at the white of Niall’s back, he urged him to turn around and face him, but he didn’t. So, heavily, Harry sighed into his pillow and turned away, watching the night pass by. 

Minutes passed before a calloused hand extended over Harry’s shoulders and pulled him close. Peeking over his shoulder, Harry glimpsed Niall’s sleeping visage and smiled softly, kissing his temple before readjusting himself back into his pillow. “Good night, Niall.”

 

xxx

 

Harry would be lying if he said he expected the convention to be as chaotically amazing as it was. He’d seen some videos and pictures from previous VidCons, but it was nothing compared to this. There were lights that were on and everywhere, and the rooms were huge, with little vendors for food and drinks so you didn’t dehydrate as you moved your way through the crowd. There were larger truck vendors outside, if you wanted to go outside and look around. The rooms — well, technically, they were too big to be common-sized ‘rooms’ — had people dressed up as various players from video games for the youtubers that deal a lot with video games, and Harry looked at all the booths where some youtubers and others had set up their merchandise to sell. 

He then glanced over at the smaller blond, who had his hands in his pockets, and flashed a huge smile. “Isn’t this great?”

He asked, ecstatic like a kid in a candy store. There was a quick, sharp nod from Niall, but Harry wasn’t quite worried about the small response he’d gotten. At least for right now he wasn’t; he stared at the booths and the things that they were selling. “I wish we had set up a booth.”

“We don’t have any merch to sell, Harry,” Niall quipped and Harry let a pout tug at his lips. “Oh, don’t ya pout. Maybe next year.”

“You sound like a parent who is telling their child to wait for next Christmas to get the one present that the parents forgot that the kid really wanted.” Harry retorted, crossing his arms. He then noticed that, of course, there was a lot of paparazzi there, and immediately a few of the paparazzi’s lights were drawn away from the guy in the booth to them. Harry snickered and flashed another smile, but Niall kind of ducked his head away. “Hey, guys, we’d love to chat and take pictures, but can we just walk around for a while?” Harry said, noticing the other get deadly quiet, and the photographers let out a collective sigh. “Please?”

“Ugh, okay. Hey, look! There’s—”

Harry drowned out what the girl had screeched and they scattered by them, breaking the closeness between the two boys. Harry mocked the paparazzi and sighed, joining hands with the other. “Hey, you alright?”

“Yeah, Hazza, I’m fine.” Niall muttered, pointing over to one of the small vendors who were serving a few snacks. “Food.” He spat out, immediately heading toward that direction. Harry laughed, following him, not daring to break the bond between their hands in fear of losing the boy. The place was really crowded, and so Harry just assumed that Niall just needed some place to sit and eat (his favorite pastimes) since it was full with people. Not to mention the size of the building — Niall was probably tired.

Harry had paid for Niall’s pretzel (honestly, it was like they were at a fair) only to receive complaints from the blond about how ‘you shouldn’t have paid’ and how ‘I would’ve gotten it’. Harry playfully rolled his eyes and bought him and himself water bottles to carry around while they explore. The two found a place to sit — even if it was against a wall with their legs scrunched up to their chests — and Niall began to eat, tearing apart some of his pretzel and dipping it in cheese. 

“Look, there’s individual rooms over there, do you see the doors?” Harry asked and Niall nodded his head. “I bet those are where youtubers go to have their own panels and things. We should really do this next year — how can you sign up? I really want to do it.”

“I don’t know how ya can become a special guest, Hazza.” Niall answered, almost done with his doughy and cheesy snack. “I’m sure ya can sign up somehow.”

“It would still be cool to do. Would you sign up with me?” Harry quipped, instead looking around at all the sights to take in whenever Niall didn’t answer him. He almost wanted to take out his camera and take pictures like a tourist. He decided on taking out his video camera, taking in the scene before focusing on Niall eating the last bites of his pretzel. “Poor pretzel, maybe it didn’t want to be eaten.”

“You are somethin’ else, ya know that?”

“I’m so offended.”

Niall rolled his eyes at the fake-hurt Harry was tugging at. “You are beginnin’ to act like Louis, you know? All the dramatic gestures. You’re so weird.”

“That’s not what you said last night,” Harry retorted, turning the camera away from him and focusing on something else. He snickered at his own joke — or, could that even be classified as a joke? Harry thought, but immediately shrugged it off because he thought it was damn hilarious. Niall scoffed and stood up, crumpling up the napkin. He walked off, looking for some place to throw it away, and Harry laughed when he tried to shoot the napkin into the trash and missed. “GOOD ONE!” He shouted and Niall rolled his eyes, returning back to the sitting brunet.

“My hand hit my other hand in the process and that’s why I couldn’t—”

“Just don’t even try to make up some excuse of why you can’t do sports, just nope, I don’t wanna hear it,” he teased playfully, shaking his head. Niall leaned over and grabbed the camera from Harry’s hand, earning a wide-eyed look from the other.

“See, everyone?” Niall spoke to the camera. “He’s fuckin’ weird.”

“I’m gonna have to edit that out now, great.” Harry retorted, crossing his arms. “You have got to be one of the most stereotypical Irish men out there.”

“Now, now, let’s not be throwin’ around stereotypes just ‘cause I cuss a lot. You do too.” Niall hissed, keeping the lens of the camera aimed on the curly brunet. “Sorry people in Irish—” He paused, causing the latter to snicker at him.

“‘Sorry people in Irish,’ oh my god,” Harry laughed, his smile growing brighter. “Yes, there’s a country named Irish, good one, Ni.”

“I meant to say Ireland, thank ya very much, mate.”

“Oh, uh huh, right. Says the guy who couldn’t shoot a piece of paper into the trashcan two inches away from him.” Letting the laughter rage on for a few seconds before dying down, Harry grabbed the camera from the blond and shut it off.

“Anyway… Why were you so quiet back there?”

“O-Oh, that? Oh, don’t worry about it.”

“Kind of hard not to.” Niall shrugged his shoulders wantonly, glancing away pretending to be distracted by a piece of lint on the carpet. Harry eyed the boy curiously, waiting for a reply that never came. "Did you want to talk about it? I'm all ears." Harry stated blatantly, watching the blonde fidget uncomfortably and Harry was almost positive he was the source of the uneasiness. "Sorry, didn't mean to pry. I'm just sort of--"

"I finally found them, girls!" A sudden scream bellowed out in the hallway, and blue and green eyes were magnetically attracted to a flourish of girls tumbling towards them in what seemed like a fabled crowd that Harry thought only existed in animes. 

Instantly, Harry pulled Niall up and the two headed in whatever direction they could. Searching about the maze of a hotel, Harry sought out a little closet on his right, quickly ducking into it with Niall in tow. It was a small closet, tinier than Harry figured it would be, but they were safe for now within this tiny sanctuary of darkness. Well, it may have been a sanctuary to Harry but the harshness of Niall's breathing beckoned an argument on the opposite end of the spectrum. "Hey, you all right?" It truly was dark within the hovel that could barely be called a closet, so Harry pulled the video camera back out and turned the light on, not realizing he'd also pressed the record button. Upon seeing Niall's shaking form, Harry was startled, not knowing what he could do to help him. "Shit, Niall... Sorry you're claustrophobic. Oh god what do I do. WhatdoIdo?!" 

Somehow or another, Niall let a little chuckle escape his shaky lips. "Between you and me, I think you need more help than I do," he joked, his grip tightening on Harry's shirt. Adjusting the angle of the camera, Harry could see just how flushed Niall's cheeks were and honest to God he was on the brink of tears. 

"I don't know about that. I'm just concerned. I don't want you to pass out or something on me, or really even find out if it gets worse and I'm sorry I'm rambling on and on but I really care about you and--"

"You talk too much," Niall exhaled before crash landing his lips against Harry's, breathing him in more fluently than how he was normally breathing. It was sudden and unexpected, but wholly welcome and completely distracting as Harry let his hands fall to his sides, dropping the camera in turn. Kissing Niall was more passionate than the last time. He hungered for him, craved the way he tasted, the way his curves and edges felt against the tips of his fingers. Harry was obsessed, he figured, and he hoped that was all right since he was 100% certain there was no way he'd ever not feel this way about this crazy, foul mouthed, adorable little bleached blonde Irish boy. 


	5. Harry, Niall and Everything They Ever Wanted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, okay, we are shite updaters. Seriously, it's been three months and we are so so sorry for the delay. Hopefully this has enough fluff and stuff to make up for us being twats.  
> xx Sam

“It took you long enough to answer the damn call!” Louis’ voice bellowed the second Harry logged onto his skype and allowed the video call to connect. Harry rolled his eyes and smirked.

“Sorry, Lou. I just got home from the market. Had to pick up some cereal for the morning.”

Liam’s face suddenly appeared on his screen and he was giving him a cross eyed face, sticking his tongue out. “Wow, that’s mature of you.”

“Not as mature as you eating cereal for breakfast,” Liam giggled, hiding his face in Louis’ shoulder because he was in a fit of hysterics. Harry didn’t understand what was so funny until a familiar golden yellow liquid was cushioned in Liam’s palm.

“You’re drunk. Daddy Payne is literally taking the piss right now.” He said mostly to himself, completely in disbelief.

Liam jutted his cup towards the screen, the beer barely staying within its glass walls. “Hey! I’m not a daddy.”

“Babe, you’re so the daddy of our little group of friends,” Louis stated and Liam groaned. “Anyways,” Louis faced back to the camera and grinned. “Tell me about your trip! Did you and Niall get it on?”

“Private!” Harry squeaked embarrassedly, the heat rushing to his cheeks quickly.

Louis pursed his lips into a pout. “Oh c’mon, Hazza, you know you wanna tell me all the steamy bits.”

“I don’t because there aren’t any steamy bits. Even if there were, I still wouldn’t tell you,” the brunette said firmly, glancing away from the camera bashfully.

The older boy jumped in his chair. “Oh! There was something! Something happened!” Harry still refused to answer. “Fine,” Louis surrendered. “But are you two at least dating now?”

He didn’t know what to say. Were they dating? It wasn’t something that either of them had discussed yet. Harry was going to answer when his phone suddenly started vibrating in his pocket. Looking at the screen, it was Niall calling, ironically. “Lou, I gotta go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back,” and he left before Louis could even protest.

Ducking behind the door into the hallway, Harry answered his phone in a hushed voice. “Hey, Ni.”

“Oh… Hey, Harry.” Niall smiled, even though Harry knew he couldn’t see him smile. “How are ya feeling now that you’re in the states?” He tried to keep the conversation going. “What are you doing right now?”

Harry glanced at the door before looking out of the big window he had in the hallway. “Oh, just… I feel like I miss you, of course. I was just talking to the two of them on Skype.”

“Uh… Louis and Liam? The two L’s?” Niall clarified, even though he figured it would be. Harry agreed quietly, muttering out their names. “Oh? What’s wrong?”

“They’re just drunk. Well, I think Liam is like fuckin’ drunk. Louis is tipsy of course. And I think they had sex beforehand too. But…” Harry trailed off, shrugging a shoulder and running a hand through his hair. “But I think that’s just a feeling. I don’t really want to ask them about it, really.” The two of them laughed, agreeing with each other. “Anyway, how are you feeling?”

“I’m…” Niall hesitated. “I’m just really tired,” he settled on, hoping Harry wouldn’t question him about it.

“Yeah, I guess I am too. But that’s okay, I’m sure we’ve all been tired.” Harry nodded, looking around at the ceiling and whatever was there that caught his eye. He let out a lingering sigh, letting the silence take over on both of the lines. He just didn’t know what to say. He wanted to say how this wasn’t right, how there wasn’t supposed to be silence between them and it was awkward, but no words were coming out of his mouth.

Finally, it’s Niall that broke it and mumbled out, “is there something wrong?”

“No,” Harry answered immediately in lack of other words to say. He really did want to say something, but just what was appropriate enough? What would be enough? He just wanted to be with Niall again. “Actually... something’s been nagging me since we left the states.” He hesitated though, unsure of if he should say it or not. He decided to not be a pansy this time around. “Did you ever think about dating?”

“Dating? As in you and me?” Harry didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. Niall gave his response immediately. “It’s all I’ve been able t’ think bout fer months actually.”

Harry sighed in relief. “Thank god.”

Niall laughed lightly, making the brunette smile. Harry bit his bottom lip nervously, noticing how tight his grip on his phone was. “Just one little problem,” Niall began and Harry’s heart dropped to the pit of his chest, scared out of his mind.

“Hmm?”

“I’m going back t’ Mullingar on Friday t’ start my second semester.”

“O-Oh...”

“I mean, I want t’ be with you!” The blonde defended immediately and Harry could hear the panic in his voice. “It’s just that it’ll be hard, and I want t’ make it work...” he paused. “But only if ya want t’ as well.”

“Of course I do. I really really like you, Niall.”

He could hear him smiling on the other end. “Me too. Well... we have a couple of days until I go home. Did you want to spend it together?”

“Definitely. But I...” Harry trailed off, fingers shaking more and now playing at the hem of his shirt. “It’s just that Lou’s been hanging out with Liam a lot and… I don’t know. I’m just being a little selfish I guess.”

“You aren’t bein’ selfish, I know exactly what ya mean actually.” Niall agreed quietly, his voice sounding weird over the phone. “I don’t know. I’ve just been distant from them I guess.” There was silence again and Harry knew he should probably get back to Louis, though they might just be making out somewhere, but he didn’t want to hang up on Niall. “I miss being with you.” Niall brought up suddenly and Harry exhaled again, this time it was a bit forced. He did miss him as well, but he really didn’t feel like talking about it since he was leaving Friday.

“Yeah, me too…” His eyes flickered back to his feet. He started to hear Louis faint voice through the door, and he almost rolled his eyes. “...I should probably get back.”

“Back…?”

“Back to Louis. He’s over Skype with Liam.” Harry responded monotonously and Niall snickered.

“Oh right, you said that already. But okay, I’ll let you go. Have fun dealing with the Queen and his King.” Niall laughed and hung up after that, leaving Harry to lean up against the door for a quick moment before heading back into the room. He sat back down on the bed, glancing at the computer again.

“You took foreeeeevvvveeerrrrr.” Harry was greeted with Louis’ whine that automatically made him regret ever coming back.

“Y-Yeah,” Liam was giggling and flushed in the cheeks, “h-hey, Harry?”

“What?” Harry asked, arching an eyebrow. The giggles grew louder.

“Did you take a number one or a number two?” The childish boy was soon laughing hysterically about that, which Harry looked toward Louis who was cackling as well.

“Are you serious?”

“Completely…!” Liam smiled up at the camera and Harry gave a blank stare toward nothing. Figuring it wasn’t going to go away -- the drunktard was just going to keep asking it -- Harry sighed, resting his head on his hand.

“It was a…” Harry paused, arching an eyebrow. What would be the best way to make Liam laugh when he was like this? “It was a wee-wee.” Liam started off with a few stifled laughs before closing his eyes shut and lowering his head, roaring with amusement.

Louis snorted, his shoulders bunching up. “Why would you say that?”

“What? What’s wrong with it? And what’s wrong with him, really?” Harry asked, pointing toward the giggling Wolverhampton boy. “How many has he had?” Louis glanced toward Liam before shrugging his shoulders.

“I actually have no idea.” Louis snickered a little, ruffling Liam’s hair. “He’s hilarious though. And he isn’t as uptight. It’s great.”

“I think you need someone as uptight as him in your life, so you don’t end up in jail.” Harry mumbled, watching the two bump shoulders before Louis shoves him over. “Oi! Don’t do that, he looks so uncoordinated, he’ll break his head.”

“I’m being careful. Anyway! Liam, you got me off-topic. So, Harry. About Niall. Tell me.” Louis crossed his arms, jutting his lips out in a pout. “Either that, or I should have you, Liam, tell me.” He poked his arm and Liam furrowed his eyebrows together.

“I don’t have to tell you anything, Boo.”

“Ugh, right there with you, Liam,” Harry agreed. “And I was surprised he talked, normally at least.”

“Fine! Then I’ll just talk to Niall.” Louis taunted, taking a sip of Liam’s drink -- only to get another aggravated look from him. “That’s what you get for not telling me. This isn’t fair, Liam. Or Harry! This isn’t funny. I want to know. I’m your friend, Harry, I’m curious.”

“For being the Queen, you’re awfully demanding.” Harry grumbled, causing Louis to hesitate and arch an eyebrow.

“Only Niall calls me the Queen. Or at least I’ve only heard it from him.” Louis narrowed his eyes. “And maybe I’ve heard Liam say it to me but that is --”

“THAT IS BEYOND THE POINT.” Harry interrupted, eyes widening at the thought of Liam whispering ‘moan my name, my queen’ or something along those lines while… Harry shivered violently, shaking his head to rid of the disturbing thought. “Anyway, what does that have to do with anything? Just because I called you the Queen doesn’t mean that I wasn’t talking to Niall."

“Something tells me that you weren’t going to the bathroom.” Louis growled, crossing his arms again, mocking the stance he made earlier. Harry heard Liam giggle out, ‘wee wee’ which didn’t help the situation like Harry thought it would. “Where were you really?”

“I was outside the door.”

“Did you hear anything?” Louis suddenly widened his eyes and Harry shook his head. “Oh, okay good.”

“What do you even mean by that? ...Never mind, I don’t want to know. Anyway, I was just talking to Niall.” Harry shrugged a shoulder. “I kind of don’t want to talk about it.”

“So are you two dating then? You haven’t told me.” Louis grumbled before turning to Liam, hissing out something inaudible. “I can’t be out of the loop forever, you know."

“You’re not out of the loop. I mean, I think we are? We haven’t really decided I think, and he’s leaving for Mullingar on Friday.” Harry cringed. He told himself and Louis he didn’t want to talk about it, why did he say something? “Just never mind.”

“No, Harry, not ‘just never mind’. I don’t want to hear that.” Louis pouted, keeping a wary eye on the curly haired boy. “Is that what’s bothering you?"

“Of course that’s what’s bothering me. He’s going to be in Ireland.” Harry muttered, rubbing his temples with a huff. “I don’t know how I feel about it either. I miss him.” Harry saw Liam lean over, hiding his face in the crook of Louis’ neck, doing whatever he was doing, Harry didn’t really care, and Louis saw the transition on Harry’s face from hopeless to annoyed. Not wanting to, but feeling like he had to, he shoved his boyfriend off of him, mumbling something to him that Harry didn’t care to hear.

“Maybe you can visit him during the winter?” Louis asked, arching an eyebrow. Harry thought about it, knowing he would have to save up for plane tickets, but he didn’t want that to block him from that opportunity. “I’m sure he would be very surprised.”

“You know, for being tipsy, you’re pretty smart.” Harry snickered. Louis’ eyes narrowed again, zoning in on the curly haired boy.

“Yeah, I’m not that drunk, okay? And I’m smart always.”

“I don’t even think that made sense. Was that a logical sentence?” Harry asked, maybe talking to himself more than he was to Louis. “I don’t know. Whatever. Anyway, as I was saying, that was a good idea. I’ll think about it.”

“What do you mean you’ll think about it? You have to plan! You have to make sure you don’t tell Niall too.” Louis made his movements erratic and almost smacked Liam in the face. “You have to make it a surprise. That’s the point.”

“I got it, Louis. That’s what ‘surprise’ means.” Harry shrugged a shoulder again, more than he wanted to, but he earned another laugh from Liam, which was awarding to Harry for some reason. Louis sneered at the sarcasm he received from the youngest, accidentally letting a smile slip past afterwards. “You love me so much, Lou.”

“Not as much as he loves me,” Liam barked, and Harry knew that he was joking, or at least he wasn’t being mean about it, he decided.

“That’s right, Liam.” Louis gushed, softly slapping his cheek. “But Hazza too.” Liam pouted and took another sip from his cup, even though it was empty, but Harry figured he didn’t know it. “Liam, sweetie, there’s nothing there, there’s nothing--” he trailed off, trying to grab the cup from Liam’s grip as he continued to try and drink from it. He tilted it in all funny directions and Louis finally grabbed it, chucking it across the room and hearing it shatter. “Fuck!”

“Louis, are you crazy?” Harry furrowed his eyebrows together, his jaw dropping. “You’re crazy, it’s official.”

“Liam’s crazy.” He grumbled, glaring down at the completely confused Liam before standing up, faltering a bit. “I’m okay, don’t worry. I better go clean that up so this drunk idiot doesn’t step in it.” Harry watched Louis move around clumsily for a little while before he glanced over at the alarm clock on Louis’ nightstand. He’d been up since 5 o clock Pacific time and it was well past midnight there. He was more than exhausted and desperately needed sleep.

Scratching the back of his head, Harry yawned. “Hey Lou, I need to get some shut eye. Call me tomorrow. Actually, wait, I’ll call you.”

Louis turned his attention from Liam over to the computer and grinned distractedly. “Okay~ harass you later, Hazza.” Harry nodded to the screen and ended the call, lying on the bed with a huff. He stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours before succumbing to the little giddy feeling inside that he’d been holding in since Niall had basically confessed his true intentions.

They could do this. They really could.

Now, Harry just needed to get a job so he could save up.

xxx

The night didn’t last long and morning came fast. Harry groaned awake, lifting his heavy head to glare at the alarm clock, smacking his lips after yawning. He’d fallen asleep on Louis’ bed, which wasn’t unusual, but he never did when Louis was gone. Harry figured that he just missed his best friend is all, and maybe the scent of his blanket reminded him more of home.

Speaking of home, he hadn’t seen his mum in about two weeks. Making a mental note to visit, Harry sat up lazily in bed, bending his back in a stretch, and then further extending his arms to grasp the headboard. It squeaked loudly and the disturbing question as to what Louis and Liam had done to that bed arose. Harry shuddered at the thought and smacked both sides of his head.

“Eww, god I’m so messed up if I wonder bout that stuff. Gross,” Harry murmured to himself, rubbing all over his sleepy face, questioning why he was even up at seven in the morning in the first place. “A weekend in the states and I’ve fucked my sleeping schedule too. Great.” He grumbled, steadying his weight onto his feet and slowly meandered towards the kitchen.

Fixing a pot of coffee, Harry leaned against the counter with a sigh, resting his face into his palms, breathing rather loudly in his quiet apartment. At the exact moment his stomach began to growl, his phone roared to life in his back pocket. Forgetting why it was still there and how he had fallen asleep in these tight pants with his phone, Harry slowly pulled it out but quickly answered when he realized it was Niall calling.

What was he doing awake at this hour?

"Haz, you awake?"

“Barely,” Harry answered, rubbing his hand over his face again, scratching a strange itch on his nose. “What are you doin’ up?” The coffee maker beeped and the brunette instinctively turned to it, phone sandwiched between his right ear and shoulder as he poured the black liquid into his mug, stirring in a few spoonfuls of sugar, and took that first cautious sip of the hot beverage. Louis really didn’t like coffee that much. He’d drink it, but preferred tea, unsweetened, over anything else. Harry really couldn’t imagine mornings without coffee. Well he could, because he tried to go cold turkey once.

Turned out that it was better to let sleeping dogs lie.

“Just couldn’t sleep very well,” Niall answered after a while, the sound of crunching filling Harry’s ear. “Wanna know something kind of funny?”

“What’s that?”

Niall hesitated again, the echoes of chewing and crunching still in Harry’s ear. He assumed he was eating cereal, probably some Lucky Charms--which was still funny to Harry because, well, it made a lot of sense.

“I’ve become so accustomed to sharing a bed with you that... well,” he paused, his voice lowering a bit, almost as if there were others around to hear him. “I can’t sleep without you next to me, Haz.”

It was strange, and almost like the stuff that came out of those teen novels that Gemma had when she was younger. That feeling the girl gets when her long time crush says the things that are too perfect for words, but her body feels every single thing it possibly can, leaving her almost paralyzed, yeah, it was happening to Harry. Words didn’t have an end or a beginning, and even if they did, Harry wasn’t certain he could form them. Again, it was strange.

“Please tell me I’m not the only crazy one here,” Niall sighed nervously into the speaker. Harry could just imagine the look on the blonde’s face, that disheveled flush of his cheeks mixed with eyebrows furrowing upwards and his adorable lips pouting guiltlessly, and it strangely made him smile knowing that he was the source of this nervousness. “Cuz if I am, I’m tossing myself off the nearest bridge and hoping the water will absorb me since I already feel like a puddle just thinking about you.”

Harry chuckled. “We’re crazy together, Ni...”

Niall’s smile was heard through the phone, an instant grin plastered on Harry’s face. “Thank god. Now I can stop thinking bout how stupid I am and maybe relax a bit.”

“That’s good to hear,” Harry sipped his coffee, still very much so smiling.

“Hey, did you want to go somewhere today?” Niall asked after a while. It was nice. Just being on the phone with him felt nice even if it was spent in silence. There was just something about being connected over the phone that felt more comfortable when they couldn’t be in each other’s presence.

Of course, the date invite was a million times better.

xxx

Harry glanced over at the blond as he entered the car, and his breath caught in his throat. Even if Niall was just in a hoodie and some shorts, he still looked adorable and it made Harry smile uncontrollably as he began to get back onto the road. “...What? Do I have something on my face? I didn’t really bother to look at my face in the mirror.”

“No, Niall, it’s nothing.” Harry teased. “Anyway, where do you want t--”

“How is the Queen and Li--”

The two paused, obviously confused on who should ask their question first, but Niall quickly muttered out, “you go first.”

“Where should we go?” He mumbled quietly, earning a shrug from the blond. “Okay, this is why you should’ve gone first.” He smirked to himself, driving off into a random direction until they figured out where they were going. Niall sighed, pouting and rolling his eyes at the comment.

“Fine. I’ll go first. How is the Royal Highness and his king?” Niall glanced toward the brunet, and he let out a long sigh.

“The king was drunk, and the queen tipsy. Liam was giggling the whole time and almost tried to give Louis hickeys probably half the time. Louis broke a glass -- the glass that Liam was using to drink whatever he was drinking -- and he figured out that I was talking about you by accidentally calling him the queen. He told me that only you call him that besides Liam and then I had nightmares for the night.” He shivered again to give the full effect. “But yeah, they must be having a fun time there, fucking every night. I wanted to Skype them again, hopefully when Liam is sober, because wee wee isn’t that funny, but I figured they had hangovers. Well, I figured Liam is hungover and Louis sore, meaning that he’s grouchy.”

“Ahh, I understand. Yeah, Liam gets bad hangovers which is funny, but so do I so it sucks-- wait, ‘wee wee’?” Niall furrowed his eyebrows together, mouth turned downward in a confused frown. “Why were you saying wee wee?”

Harry laughed, noticing he was getting hyped up from the caffeine and just the way Niall said it was beginning to sound hilarious. Maybe that’s what Liam was thinking? Harry thought as he stifled a laugh, trying to hide it.

“I’m being serious.”

“Liam asked me if it was a number one or two, because I apparently ‘took too long’ even though I was talking to you instead. I had told Louis I was going to the loo.” Harry explained, snickering a little as it did sound ridiculous to him now. “And he apparently, in his drunk mind, thought it was the funniest thing in the world. I can kinda see where he’s coming from though.”

“I remember you made a video with Louis and you two were both smashed, don’t even try to say ‘kinda’.” Niall retorted, a smirk now decorating his face. “Though that was kind of funny as well, you two are funny drunks.”

“I completely forgot about that video actually…” Harry let a small laugh slip before changing lanes. “Okay, now we really have to decide on where we are going.”

“Well, what are you in the mood for?” Niall asked, looking at the other hopefully. “I really don’t mind, and I didn’t have an idea before I said it.”

“That’s okay, I’m sure we can think of something. Do you want coffee?” Harry asked almost immediately, finding the idea of Niall pumped up on coffee amusing. He looked over at him for a split second, but he then turned back to the road when he didn’t say anything.

After a few minutes, Niall agreed. “Sure. Coffee sounds good.”

The two traveled in silence, which was weird to Harry. It was alright over the phone, since he was also multi-tasking and was able to keep his mind busy, but not in person. Not while driving. They were almost to the cafe and there wasn’t anything spectacular going on right at the moment, so there was nothing to talk about. At least that’s what Harry felt like, and whether or not Niall did as well, he wanted something to say.

What should he say?

“Today I got up and wondered what Louis and Liam did in their bed to make it creak that bad.”

The sentence Harry mumbled made Niall’s eyebrows furrow in confusion once again. “Um… What?”

And from that, came the very unusual question, “Is Liam better at sex than I am?"

“I wouldn’t know if he is…? Or if you are…?”

“Hypothetically, do you think he is?”

“Harry, I don’t even know? I haven’t even had sex with you, I haven’t even had sex with Liam, I don’t know why you’re asking me this.” Niall arched an eyebrow now, keeping a wary eye on him and Harry shrugged.

“Well, yeah, um, I know…” He paused, contemplating of whether or not he should continue. He decided to not speak anymore and pulled over into a parking lot for the cafe. “Let’s go get coffee. Um. Yeah.” That flighty, fun awkwardness from last night was completely gone and now he’d gone and made a complete fool of himself this time, asking such a ridiculous question.

What is wrong with me? Harry thought shamefully, hiding his expression from the oblivious blonde. Niall seemed distracted by the cute quaintness of the coffee shop. It was endearing, Harry had to admit, at how easily amused Niall was by new things. Shuffling into the shop, Harry instantly knew what he wanted, but looking to Niall, he was pressed against the bakery window, his mouth watering.

“It’s like food porn,” Niall mused.

Harry laughed aloud, stunning the barista behind the counter. She was instantly taken by the suddenness of his dimpled smile.

“You find this funny, but I’m a food fanatic, god Haz.” Niall’s contagious laugh rang about the shop, and he didn’t care that he was the only one that found it funny. But Harry laughed regardless. He adored him, loved how he was always optimistic. It was a slice of life he’d been deprived of for years.

For all three years he’d been away from home.

They had coffee and ate biscotti and various other pastries--all of which were Niall’s treats anyways--and all around enjoyed each others unconditional selves. It was like no one else existed when Harry was around Niall. He wasn’t Harry’s first boyfriend--wow that still sounded strange to think about--so it wasn’t like he was new to this.

No.

He was new to really liking someone that brought so much positivity to his life. See, Harry wasn’t exactly a happy-go-lucky person. In fact, he couldn’t recall many times where he felt okay or even excited about his life.

But that’s a story for another day.

This was the story about how Niall crash landed his way into Harry’s world, flipped it upside down, turning it back over and rewrote the script in a perpetual chaos of happiness and love.

xxx

They spent the rest of the day like that. Enjoying their company, sharing silly stories and jokes. Harry drove them down to the beach in Broadstairs, Kent and went hand in hand along the shoreline, kicking at the steady water. Every now and then, splashes rose and hit Niall, emitting that addictive chorus of laughter that Harry couldn’t bear to be without.

He took notice of Niall’s calloused skin. It was soft, but the ripples between his distinctive fingertips were etching into his own, memorizing him instinctively like a how his tattoos raised on his skin were forever remembered. The brunette’s tender touches tickled Niall and Harry couldn’t help the jaggedly rushed beat of his flighty heart. It was distracting and confusing and as much as Harry wanted to allow himself to settle into Niall’s grasp, he apprehensively and oh so purposefully threw the salt water at him, breaking their fingers apart. Feigning offense, Niall splashed him back, kicking bits of the sea with Harry plastering a smugly dimpled smirk across his tanned face.

“Ya twat, ya got me clothes all wet,” Niall chuckled, chasing after Harry, a trail of crashing water flitting behind him like so.

“Oh, I’ll make more than just your clothes wet,” Harry joked, but left the Irish lad flushed bright red against the sunset’s very own fiery reflection over his porcelain white skin. It was cute, so incredibly so that Harry stopped short, giving Niall the opportunity to take him to the sandy ground below them.

It was mere seconds before Harry even knew what had happened and was inches from Niall’s still heated face. Those beautiful sun kissed blue eyes danced with the water’s effigy and were fixed only on him. Strangely, the quiet exchange of stares was intimate and within moments they were lost in each other’s embrace, lips locked and slowing tattooing onto one another. Nothing could replace this, Harry realized, and it was take him more than an eternity to forget just how Niall’s kisses felt.

xxx

Back home, Harry laid with Niall, softly brushing his thumb across his tenderly freckled cheek. Niall smiled, blue eyes glancing up at Harry’s before leaning up to kiss him gently. Harry inhaled him, hand reaching down to grasp his neck and angled him up to deepen the kiss. He licked along Niall’s bottom lip and gained entrance, gliding his tongue over the blonde’s. It was sort of funny actually. Harry had never made out with someone that wouldn’t fight over dominance, but Niall accepted his every touch and trusted him enough that it went straight to Harry’s groin. It excited the brunette, made him yearn for more although he wouldn’t ask it.

The fact still remained that Niall could be a virgin, and Harry was not.

“Haz,” Niall breathed between kisses, running a hand through Harry’s wild curls. “Haz, we should really talk.”

Harry’s heart sank, noticing the settling density of the air in the room. He could only imagine what was so important to take away from precious kissing, but he didn’t want to dwell on that. It sounded like reality, and it wasn’t exactly one of Harry’s favorite things. “Mmm, or we could just keep kissing,” he suggested, trying to distract Niall by kissing along his neck, sucking lightly at the virgin skin, creating such wonderful moans and squeaks from lovely, kiss bitten lips.

“Mmm... C’mon Harry,” he attempted, gripping desperately at Harry’s slightly damp shirt. His words were all but forgotten as Harry’s poisonous lips trailed down Niall’s neck to his collarbone. Long finger tugged at the hem of his collar, giving slight access to the blonde’s untouched chest. Harry slid his promiscuous tongue from the prominent bone to the start of the stretched fabric. It was simple touch, but it had Niall moaning. His skin tasted of salt water and cinnamon, much like his hair smelled. Harry decided it was his new favorite flavor and made a mental note about it.

While all of that was welcome, Niall had more pressing matters to attend to. Intimacy could be patient for twenty minutes, he decided. So he pushed Harry off of him, only slightly, and looked him in the eyes, determination written across his face. “Haz, we _really_ need to talk.”

With a sigh, Harry sat up on the bed, defeated, and glanced down to the blonde. “Okay. What about?”

It was a definite mood killer, whatever Niall needed to talk about.

“I’m going to be leaving first thing Friday morning.”

Great. Harry pulled away even more, extending his long legs over the edge of the bed so he didn’t have to watch Niall’s face fall so suddenly.

“No wait,” Niall pleaded, planting his hand against Harry’s to convey how important this was. “I’m not tryin to destroy the mood, but it’s been on me mind.”

“All right,” Harry turned to Niall solemnly. “I’m listening.”

Niall smiled half-heartedly, swallowing nervously. He entwined their fingers to reassure Harry. “It’s just... are you one hundred percent positive that this... I’m... what you want?”

“Indefinitely. God Niall, I don’t even know if you understand just how much I’ve wanted this.” Harry answered, looking almost desperate to get his feelings across. Niall caught it, though, as his grip on his hand tightened with his confession.

“Can you maybe tell me?” He asked, and it was cute, the way that Niall looked like a little puppy begging to be loved.

It was more than fucking adorable, Harry admitted, and he wanted to throw himself out the window and float up to cloud nine.

“This is going to sound really psychotic, but you’ve indirectly saved me.”

“Saved you?”

“Mhm...” Harry paused, glancing away nervously. “You’ve saved me from myself mostly. Being lonely and feeling like no one wanted me. Of course we all feel that way but... I grew up being unwanted. Then you came along and I just...” He trailed, looking shyly up at Niall. “I just really knew that you’d change my life somehow. When I developed feelings... well... it was only natural. You’re absolutely amazing, Niall.”

Niall was speechless. “I’ve used all the words in my brain,” he mumbled. Harry chuckled.

“C’mere.” He said, pulling Niall into a lingering kiss.

So what if he was leaving in two days.

So what if they were in two different countries.

So what everything else that Harry couldn’t think of that would prevent them from being together. He wanted this, more than that blue bike he wanted for his seventh birthday, more than that large brimmed bucket hat that caught his eye in the store two months ago, more than he wanted only tacos for his sixteenth birthday.

He wanted Niall Horan more than anything in this world, and that was enough for him.


	6. Blank Video Cases and Exes

Harry woke up to a loud banging at his bedroom door. He groaned after looking at his alarm clock and noticing it was only six in the morning. The banging stopped for a few moments before it began again.

“Harold! I know you’re awake! You need to see this!”

“Go away Louis,” Harry grumbled, throwing his shoe at the door except it missed it by a large margin. He hadn’t gone to bed until 3 a.m. last night because he was up talking to Niall on Skype. It’d been three weeks since Niall had gone home and he missed him every second of the day. It was a problem, but not enough to really worry over.

“If you don’t open this door in ten seconds I’m barging in. I don’t even care if you’re naked because you were up masturbating on Skype with Niall.”

It wasn’t true, and even if it was, he would still be clothed. Harry rubbed his hand over his face, leaning off the bed with his left hand on the floor holding his weight up. Staring blankly at the door, he blinked a couple of times, drowning out the sound of Louis’ voice.

“All right, you were warned!” Louis exclaimed before shoving the door open and pressing his phone against Harry’s face.

“Ugh, you’re such a twat,” he mumbled, grabbing at the phone. “What do ya want?”

“Just play the bloody video.”

Harry glanced down at the screen, almost shocked at the title of the video. “‘Niall and Harry at VidCon! Narry is real!’? What the hell?” Harry read aloud, looking to Louis with confused eyes.

“Seriously, I knew that there were fans. You even have a ship name.” Louis cackled at the expression Harry was making. “Oh don’t be so surprised. You knew this would happen.”

“I feared it. I don’t want my relationship with Niall to be a big deal. It’s really not.”

“Maybe it is. Look at it this way, in the YouTube world, you two are sort of popular, so the public is going to react accordingly.”

“We’re not Bradgelina.”

“No, but I’m just waiting for Lilo to become a thing,” Louis pouted, crossing his arms. “I’m still waiting.”

Harry rolled his eyes with a grin and played the video anyways. It was blurry, but enough footage to prove that they were in fact a couple. “How’d they even know we were hiding there?” He grumbled, remembering how they had hid in the closet and shared that memorable kiss. When that door had flown open, they were in mid-kiss and the instant red appearing against Niall’s cheek was something Harry constantly daydreamed about. He didn’t understand it, but the fact that Niall, who wasn’t exactly as shy as he thought he was, was easily bashful made his heart race.

It was just one of those things that Harry absolutely adored about the blonde.

After a few moments of staring at the video that had ended three minutes ago, he locked the iPhone and handed it back over to Louis with a sigh. “You miss him, huh?”

“Only every second of the day.” Harry slumped over the bed somberly, making little drawings of nothing on the carpet with his finger. “I really need a job soon.”

“Didn’t you apply for the radio job?”

“Yeah, but I still haven’t heard anything back. They said they’d call any day now, though.”

Louis looked up at the ceiling, feigning like he was in deep thought. “I’m sure you’ll get it. You’re attractive, so ya know.”

“It’s a radio job. No one’s going to see me.”

“Yeah, but the other employees there will. Besides, your voice would be perfect for that night show. It’ll turn them on or put the listeners to sleep.”

Harry threw his pillow at the brunette, “Shuddup.”

Louis laughed loudly. “It’s true though!” He sneered, watching the other with an amused smile on his face. “Your voice is very lovely. Even Niall loves it.”

Harry paused, keeping an eye on the other. “Yeah, okay, I’ll give you that. I’m just stressed out and worried that I won’t get it and I’m just emotionally a wreck.”

“An emotional wreck, you mean?”

A glare was sent his way.

“I’m just saying, Hazza.” Louis mumbled, putting his hands up defensively. “Wasn’t trying to make you sound stupid.” He joined him on the bed again, looking at him with a soft, understanding look in his eyes. “I know you’re stressed out, but I’m here for you. Even if I’m not physically here, you know. And so is Liam!”

Harry nodded, happy with how concerned Louis was. He always knew he could count on him. “Even if you’re giving him a blowjob?” He asked teasingly, a small smirk appearing on his features. Louis swatted his chest.

“You can shut your mouth.” He pouted.

“I’m just saying. Will you?”

A pause. Then, “Yes, I will. Even if I’m giving Liam a blowjob.” There was another pause. “I’ll even send you pictures--”

“No!” Harry shrieked, shoving the older brunet away with a harder force than he had meant. But, he really didn’t mind at this point, he did not want pictures of Liam’s dick -- or worse, Louis’ mouth on his dick. “No, no, no! Hell no.” He looked at the boy who was now on the floor. “Actually, you can’t be there for me when you have his cock in your mouth. After, yes. Before, of course. But not during!” With Louis laughing, Harry added, “and no pictures!”

“Okay, okay! I wasn’t going to send you pictures away. Maybe.” Louis snickered, flashing him a toothy smile. “I mean, really? Did you really think I was going to send you pictures of Liam’s dick?”

“Actually, I think you would--”

A ringtone blared through the room, causing both boys to freeze in their positions. Whose ringtone it was, it wasn’t clear, and almost immediately the two raced to receive their phones.

“Ha! It’s mine.” Harry shouted, a little too loudly, and realized it was the job that was calling. He had answered it, breathing out, “Hello?”

Louis sighed, getting up and letting the other be while he was on the phone with what he assumed his new manager. Or, a coworker? Or Niall? He really didn’t know, but he was sure he’d get details after the call. Closing the door to Harry’s room, he made his way out to the hall, going to the living room.

He sat on the couch with a huff, glaring at his phone beside him. Why wasn’t he calling him? Had he said something wrong? Or was he just overthinking?

Liam had said his ex-girlfriend had been in town and that he would like to hang out with her. And that was two hours ago.

Louis pouted, crossing his arms and stared at nothing. This was boring, he thought, looking around the white walls. There were pictures hanging up, just random pictures he thought were nice. Him and Harry. All of them together. Him and Liam, even. Though most of those pictures were in his room, and he treasured them with all of his might.

“Is Liam doing anything with her?” Louis wondered aloud before eventually staring up at the ceiling. “This is crazy.”

He looked at his phone again.

“Yep. Definitely crazy.”

He groaned, lying down on the couch.

Harry burst through his bedroom door, heading into the living room, a huge smile on his face that dimpled his cheeks. “I got the job!” He exclaimed happily, then looked to Louis, noticing his somber look. “Hey, you all right?”

“Yeah, just... being stupid again.” Louis leaned back on the couch, sighing loudly and looking up at Harry lazily. “I keep thinking Liam’s up to no good, but he’s not like that, so why am I freaking out over him spending time with his ex.”

Harry joined him on the couch, pulling Louis into a side hug. “It’s natural. I mean, after what happened with your ex, I don’t quite blame you for feeling this way,” he paused, kissing Louis’ forehead like a mother would her child. “But you need to figure out a way to trust him. Like you said, Liam’s not like that.”

“Maybe,” Louis sighed, again, staring at his bare feet, wiggling them about. “The thoughts won’t go away though. They have so much history. I wouldn’t blame him if he decided that he wanted to--”

“Don’t even go there,” Harry scolded, pulling away from the hug to look to his best friend. There was concern in his eyes, but mostly in a brotherly sort of way. “Liam and you are way too good together for him to have second thoughts. Besides that, I would kill him if he ever left you for someone else. There is nothing wrong with you, in fact, you’re perfect. I know for a fact that you’re too perfect for most people. Even too perfect for me...” He trailed, not wanting to resurface those memories. It was a thing of the past and that’s where it belonged.

Louis gave Harry a soft look, and nodded in understanding.

The curly brunette pulled his best friend into another hug to emphasize that he was serious. “So please,” Harry pet Louis’ hair, running his fingers through the soft tresses. “Please don’t ever think that again, okay?”

Louis nodded again, looking up to Harry as they pulled away from the hug. “So tell me about the job.”

 

xxx

 

It was a Monday morning, a day that all working members of society dreaded because of their mundane jobs, but not Harry. No, he was excited. Almost too excited that he could barely get to bed the night before. Louis made him warm milk and snuck a sleeping pill into it--not that Harry would’ve been too concerned over it regardless--and it put the sucker right to bed. At 5am, Harry was bright eyed and ready to take on the world despite his own personal challenges.

Louis groaned, rubbing his sleepy eyes as he scuffled into the kitchen to pour himself his morning tea. He liked it plain at this hour, always stating it was strong enough to bring life back into him from his death-like slumber. It always made Harry laugh, amusing his mornings, but Louis really didn’t have to wake up to see him off.

“I’m your mother hen! You’re big brother! I should see you off for work everyday. It’s only proper.” Louis had exclaimed the night before.

Harry wasn’t so passe about it though. “But I don’t want you grumpy and tired in the mornings. I want to come home to my ‘mother hen’ with a merry grin on his face because I didn’t die on my commute home.”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Louis pouted.

 

“I still can’t believe that you actually woke up to see me off.”

Louis shrugged, sipping the hot liquid. “I said I would, so I did.”

Harry smiled regardless. He nodded his head awkwardly, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Well then. I should be off?” He shrugged, twirling his keys on his finger. “And don’t worry about Liam. Okay?”

Louis halted, staring straight ahead. “Alright.” The answer was hesitant, but he truly meant it.

“I’m serious.”

“I know.”

A comfortable silence fell between them and Harry waited a moment before walking over to him, wrapping his arms around the shorter one. “He’ll be home.”

Louis said nothing as Harry kissed his head platonically, ruffling his hair before going down the hallway, out of the door.

He then grumbled something incoherent once the curly haired boy left, finishing his tea and washing the cup out, setting it in the sink. He kept Harry’s words in his mind before letting it wander as he aimlessly walked to his room.

Sitting down on his bed, he stared at nothing. He’d been doing that more than he’d like to admit. After a few moments, he heard a knock at the door. Bolting up and heading down to it, he opened it with a hurried smile. “Liam.”

“That wasn’t particularly happy,” Liam noticed, his eyebrows furrowing together. “Did… Did I do something?”

“I don’t know, did you?” Louis sassed, arching a perfectly plucked eyebrow. “I mean, you didn’t call me. At all. Not even a good night call, either.” He muttered out before his mouth could shut. He stared at him blankly, shifting a little under his gaze.

“You’re right…” Liam said cautiously, shouldering his duffel bag he had. “I was busy.”

“Doing what?” He spat out, turning back and letting the other come inside while he walked off toward the kitchen. “And don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not going to lie, Lou! I didn’t do anything that would involve hurting you.” His voice was strong, Louis noted, and it certainly wasn’t a voice of a liar. Or, an amateur liar. Louis leaned against the counter, looking out a window above the sink.

He shook his head.

“I didn’t do anything with her.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” Liam came up behind him, wrapping his arms around his waist. “Where’s Haz?” He asked, whispering in his ear. Louis looked over his shoulder at him, shaking his head once more.

“New job.” He muttered, hearing a tiny sigh emit from Liam’s mouth. “Sorry, I’m just tired.” He tried, looking out the window once more. “Woke up early this morning.” While that wasn’t a complete lie -- since he did wake up early -- he wasn’t really tired, he was just emotionally drained. For what reason, he didn’t know. But he hoped that since he was ‘tired’ and that he ‘woke up early’, Liam would get the hint and let him go to his bedroom.

Liam paused. “Lou, why are you so upset…?”

“You didn’t call me.” Louis hissed, his teeth clenching. “Never mind,” he added while focusing on some cloud forming into a shape. “I understood that you were busy, painting the town with your ex.”

“What is your problem?” Liam snapped suddenly, stepping away from the older boy. It fell silent between the two as Louis turned to look at him, gripping onto the counter’s granite ledge. “Lou, please calm down. Stop crying.”

“I’m not crying!” He screeched, even if there were tears swelling up in his bright blue eyes. “It’s just I should trust you, and I do, but if you wanted to leave me you could.”

Liam paused. “You think I want to leave you?”

“I…” Silence fell through the room again, besides Louis’ little sniffles that he tried to hide. “I think so, yeah.” He admitted sheepishly. “You could if you wanted to.”

“And if I don’t want to?”

Louis paused that time, watching him carefully. “Then don’t.” He murmured, his fingers trembling with the pure thought of Liam finally saying goodbye forever. “I… I don’t know what else to say.”

“Then don’t say anything,” Liam returned, pulling Louis in for a kiss. It was chaste at first, but when Louis wrapped his arms around Liam’s neck, it suddenly raised the temperature in the room, cueing them to slowly head towards the bedroom down the hall. The younger brunette smiled into their kiss, following the older’s footsteps carefully as they almost tripped into the room. Liam caught them though, and by caught, it meant they practically collapsed on the bed, fraught with hot kisses and fumbling fingers as they attempted to de-clothe themselves.

Although they’d done this two days ago, it felt like years to Louis. That’s sort of how he measured a relationship, with how often sex came into play. It wasn’t healthy, he knew that, because a relationship was more than just the physical stuff, but he couldn’t help it. Before his mum, as much as he loved her, met Daniel, she was always with guys. She kept messing up by letting them in too easily--pun intended--until she met Daniel, and it sort of stuck in Louis’ mind that sex was the most important aspect in a relationship. It’s what ended his last one, actually, not that he’d ever go into detail about it, but maybe if he slowed things down with Liam he’d--

Louis let out a moan as Liam sucked against the soft skin of his nape.

Never mind, sex felt too good to slow down on.

Liam smiled against reddened skin, kissing along the spot down to his chest, licking at a pert nipple that practically begged to be touched. The older grappled at Liam’s hair, tugging on it as he bit his bottom lip. “Gah... such a... tease you... are...”

“Mmm,” Liam hummed, slowly removing Louis’ boxers and exposing his hard on. “But teasing you does exactly what I need your body to do.” He pointed out as he wrapped his palm around Louis’ shaft, caressing his cock, which emitted a lovely sound from his whorish mouth. “That would be another example.”

“Oh shut up and blow me,” Louis managed, jutting his head back against the bed as Liam did just that, taking in his swollen dick, sucking at the tip. Louis bit at his lip again, running his fingers through Liam’s hair, pushing him further down on him. “Ah... yeah... like that baby. Mmm...”

It was a known fact that Louis abso-fucking-lutely loved being vocal in sex. He couldn’t remember how many times Harry had banged on the wall to get him to shut up. Of course his protests were all in vain, as any protest against what he did would be, but he took a certain pleasure in someone else hearing him.

He even took the measures to never lock the door on the thrill of getting caught when he was trying to be quiet.

Liam never understood it, just like nobody else understood why Louis did the things he did, but he loved him regardless. Even took onto the same pleasures he did. It was all an experiment in progress.

Liam hesitated for a moment before starting to deep-throat the latter, with a scream of pleasure in reward. He hummed out a moan, sending vibrations up Louis’ cock, and the grip on his hair became tighter. Louis’ knees wobbled and Liam held onto them to keep him up.

“L-Le-Lee-yum…” he purred, his head tilting back as he fluttered his eyes closed. “More.” It was a simple demand, and Liam pulled him out of his mouth, gaining a whine.

“Shush.” He mumbled, licking the tip with more pressure than he would’ve liked, but hey -- it still got Louis to moan, so he was happy. With a free hand, he started to lightly stroke the shaft, gaining protests to how gentle he was being.

Deciding to vary the speeds at which his tongue was going, he flicked it over the tip again in a teasing way, practically in control of Louis. And when Louis said he was about to come, he pulled away completely, smirking up at him.

With a scowl on his bright, red face, he knelt down next to Liam, tugging at his boxers this time. He grumbled something incoherent, his hands shaking and his movement erratic. Liam decided to sit back and let the other pull his boxers off of him, just to torture the elder.

Boxers off, Liam was shoved to the floor, letting the other climb on top of him. “It wasn’t very nice to be a tease,” he scolded, clawing at Liam’s chest gently, letting his fingers trail down it. He leaned down and kissed the other, having the kiss linger as his hands finally met the floor, keeping himself propped up on top of him.

Louis smirked into the kiss, shifting his hips back and forth and rubbing their bodies together. Liam let a moan pass by his lips and he slid his legs up, getting more comfortable with Louis on top. They pulled away from the kiss, Louis letting out a breathy moan as he continued grinding against him.

“In me, now…” Louis purred once more, biting his lip and looking at Liam with a hazed look in his eyes.

Liam nodded, lining up with his entrance before thrusting inside with a sharp roll of his hips. Louis screamed in pleasure, leaning down and kissing Liam again. He almost regretted not using lube this time, but the way that Liam’s cock felt inside of him made him beg to differ. “God...” He gasped, grinding his hips as he rode Liam, gritting his teeth as he moved past the tight feeling. “Mmm... Liam...”

The younger smirked, pulling Louis into another kiss, thrusting more fervently, gripping Louis’ bum. “Fuck... you’re so tight...” he groaned, quickening his pace, rocking his hips harder. His hands moved to grasp Louis’ hips, giving him more of an edge to control how he rode him. Liam was always the type to stand back and let someone else--especially Louis--take the lead, but in bed, he was the leader, and dammit all if he was never going to be a bottom.

Liam guided everything from start to finish, pounding in and out of Louis hard and fast and practically wanting to cum just because of Louis’ whorish moans. He was certain the neighbors could hear, but that was neither here nor there.

It was only moments before they reached their climax, Louis coming all over Liam’s chest and smiling deviously as he wiped it with his finger and offered some to Liam. He didn’t mind really, but most people would look at them like they were nuts if they knew just how dirty they could be.

He suckled on Louis’ finger almost greedily, and in turn, came inside of him, moaning loudly as he did. They pulled apart and laid on the floor, staring up at the ceiling while trying to regain enough energy to drag themselves into the bed.

Who’s idea was it to be on the floor again? Oh right, Louis’. As usual.

“Can we just... do that every day now?” Louis requested, cuddling up to Liam’s chest, not caring that they were both drenched in sweat. Liam smiled, running his hand through Louis’ damp hair. “I don’t think I can go more than a day without that.”

“You sure you aren’t addicted to sex?”

“I’ll admit it. Nothing wrong with that.”

“Perhaps,” Liam hummed, twirling a lock of Louis’ hair around his index finger. He closed his eyes and pondered over how they’d even ended up here. It still seemed so surreal that meeting each other was all thanks to a silly little website. Not to mention that thanks to him, Niall and Harry wouldn’t even know of each other.

Funny how things worked out the way they did.

Eventually, they mulled their way to the bed and fell soundly asleep.

 

Liam wasn’t exactly a light sleeper, but Louis was the heaviest. He snored sometimes, especially when he passed out from strenuous work. Which was pretty much only sex because he was as lazy as a push pin. But Liam mostly woke up because the sun was out and it was a quarter till twelve. It was much too late in the day for him to stay asleep so he decidedly drug himself out of bed, went to have a wee, grabbed a cup of coffee from the kitchen and sat down in the living room, looking through Louis and Harry’s movie collection. Curiously, he came across a blank case and pulled it out. The cover was just as blank as the binding and he wondered if there was even anything on the DVD. As it were, curiosity overcame the cat and he put it into the DVD player, turning the volume down low--so as not to wake Louis--and played it.

It first started out with Louis smiling at the camera. He appeared to be only a few years younger than now, his hair shorter with a fringe and he was wearing a striped shirt with red pants and suspenders. Liam smirked, it was pretty cute, but he couldn’t see it on Louis now. Not when he actually dressed like he belonged on the runway.

As the video continued, Harry came into view. His hair was much shorter and extremely curly and his skin was a blank canvas. It seemed odd to see such a sight, but Liam remembered a time when he himself didn’t have anything on his tatted skin.

“Hi mum,” Louis smiled into the camera. Liam couldn’t quite make out where they were, but they looked so happy. “Harold and I have moved into our first apartment together. Can you believe it?”

“Mum said we wouldn’t make it past six months.” Harry pouted but then flashed a toothy grin.

“Can’t even imagine living without this guy, he’s my rock,” Louis looked to Harry this time, smiling sweetly, and for some reason, it left a sickly feeling in Liam’s stomach. “Anywho~ we’ve gotta finish unpacking, but we’ll see you real soon!” Then Louis leaned over and pressed a passionate kiss to Harry’s lips. It lasted for only a few seconds, but Liam could just tell that that kiss said more than just “I love you”. He stared at the screen for a moment, pausing it on the kiss. When was this?

He knew that it wasn’t his job to know, but he would’ve liked to know that they were together at some point. Did Louis still care for him like that? More than just friends?

Liam shook his head, shaking the thought out of it. They’re just friends. Brothers, even. Nothing more. He told himself, but the more he watched the video, the more those ideas faded.

Finishing the video -- which took too long -- Liam carefully put the DVD back into its blank holder, back to where the case belonged, and he turned off the telly with a sigh. He listened for any sign that the other was awake, but to no avail. Of course, Louis would be sleeping.

Liam felt sick to his stomach. He wasn’t jealous--was he?--and those images of them kissing floated back to his mind.

It was almost too much for him.

It wasn’t the fact that they dated, but more so the fact that they still could be considered ‘dating’, with all the holding and comforting they do all the time. So, without thinking, Liam marched upstairs and glanced down at the sleeping Louis, who was half covered by the sheets.

“Louis.” He mumbled, and Louis made no sign of waking. “Louis!” He tried louder, still getting no signs of life. He shrugged and decided to let his muscles take care of it -- literally.

Lifting up the mattress, he watched as Louis felt the shift in the bed, grabbed onto it a moment too late, and fell to the floor with a growl.

He poked his head out of the tangled sheets and glared at the other, who placed the bed down once more. “What the hell is your problem?” he shouted, “first sex and then you dump me out of bed?”

“Why do you still have that tape?” He asked impatiently, mentally kicking himself for letting a certain green-eyed monster come through. “That tape with nothing in the case, besides for, well, where you moved in with Harry?”

Louis paused, blue eyes widening and his mouth closing shut with an audible snap. “I-I forgot we had that…”

“I found it.”

“Well, I figured that out, smart one--”

“Just answer the question.” He cut off, staying in his position at the opposite side of the bed. “Why do you still have that tape?”

“I forgot I had it.” Louis answered quickly. “Harry forgot we had it. It had no design on it whatsoever, and I had forgotten about it.” Liam kept quiet, looking at him with an arched eyebrow. “What?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were dating him?” came the next question, and this time, Louis paled. His fingers shook nervously.

“Because you didn’t need to know.” He said quietly, his voice dripping with sudden venom. “It was my life before you, and it’s still my life. I didn’t need to tell you anything before you.” The glare was back and Liam raised his hands defensively. “Alright?”

“Alright.” There was still one more question bugging him and before he could stop his mouth, “How do you feel about him now?”

There was a pause again from Louis and he ruffled with the comforter for a few moments. He then shook his head, pointing to the door. “Just go, I’m not having this conversation with you. Go sleep on the couch, or whatever.”

Liam swallowed nervously, glancing down at the boy on the floor.

“Maybe you could snoop some more through my shit? Because that’s apparently what you like doing now.” Louis hissed, his teeth gritted. Liam stepped back a bit, continuing to watch him before nodding his head.

“Fine,” was all he said before making his way past him, out of the door. He slammed it shut, hearing Louis scream something incoherent at him, but he pretended not to care. He really didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but it still hurt to know that he didn’t answer his question -- nor did he want to answer his question.

Liam sat in the kitchen with a glass of water he had poured himself. “This sucks,” he said aloud to no one in particular. Maybe Harry’s cat would listen to him. He looked around the room, seeing no signs of life, however, and he slumped down in his chair. “Stupid video. Stupid Harry.”

The door closed after he had said that, and the curly-haired boy stepped in, arching an eyebrow. “I step in after my first day and I get called stupid?” Harry joined him in the kitchen, pouring himself some lemonade Louis had made a day ago.

“Whatever…” he muttered, shrugging a shoulder.

“What video are you talking about anyway?” Harry asked, noting that the other was down, and something had happened. “And where’s Lou?”

“Why do you need to know?” Liam snapped, causing the other to jerk back in surprise. Oh, something definitely had happened. “So you could go kiss him again?” A scowl formed on his face, replacing his pout he had on earlier.

“What the bloody hell happened?” Harry arched an eyebrow, his voice sharp and venomous. “What did you do to Louis?”

“I didn’t do anything! You’re the one that went out with him!”

A pause came from Harry and he stared at Liam, letting out a sigh. “Oh. That video.” Harry shook his head, rubbing his thumb and index finger over the bridge of his nose. “Didn’t even know we still had it. Liam,” he looked straight at him, his eyes stern. “That was from years ago. Practically a whole other life. I can assure you that there’s nothing going on between Lou and I.”

“Then why wouldn’t he bloody answer me when I asked him how he still felt about you?” Liam questioned, feeling like he was on the brink of tears. It was ironic, how their fight this morning was over Liam’s ex and now it was Louis’ ex. He just didn’t know how to process this information.

“Because Louis doesn’t talk about his feelings for his exes.”

“You say that, but it sounds like a cop out.”

“Sorry? You’ve known Louis for what? Five months? I’ve known him since we were twelve. Barely realizing our sexualities and discovering what it was like to have wet dreams. Maybe we were each other’s first for a reason.” Harry scowled, his eyebrows furrowed deeply in a grimace. “So don’t sit there and try to tell me that I don’t know how my best friend acts and why he doesn’t like to talk about things.”

Each other’s first... Liam thought. It almost explained everything, but still didn’t satisfy the nagging curiosity looming in the back of his mind. Danielle was his first and he still loved her to this bloody day. Why would it be any different for Louis and Harry?

Liam sighed, running a hand through his hair and tugged at it in aggravation. “Still doesn’t answer my question.”

“Fine,” Harry growled. “I’ll tell you how I feel about Louis then. I love him. I will always love him. But it’s not like that anymore. We’re best friends, brothers, family. We’ve always been in each other’s lives. Can you really be so surprised that we were together once before?”

“Then if you two were so perfect for each other, why aren’t you still together?”

“Because we aren’t perfect for each other,” Louis’ voice stated from the hallway. He was leaning against the archway, his arms crossed and expression flat. “Meant more as brothers than as lovers, Liam.”

Liam was caught off guard and left speechless. He knew he was in hot water right now, and trying to make up with Louis seemed almost pointless right now. However, he bowed his head, looking away from the two of them and muttered a “sorry”, before heading towards the front door, exiting the apartment without another word.

 

 


	7. Private Confessional

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right guys, now that we're getting further into the story, we've obviously started writing smut. I'll admit, I'm sort of amateur at it, so hopefully you'll bare with me on my awkwardness?  
> And I'm sorry that things seem to be mostly lilo right now, but I promise lots of narry fluf and stuff will come up soon!  
> As always, love every single one of you.  
> xoxoxox Sammie

 

“So... how was your first day?” Louis asked, choosing to avoid any other conversation about what had just happened. Harry looked to him with one of those looks that basically stated that what just happened needed to be discussed. But the older wasn’t going to have it. He shook his head and put his hands up. “No, Harry, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“We’re going to talk about it. Whether you like it or not.”

“No.” Louis’ voice was firm and his expression was angry. “It’s pointless to talk about it. If he wants to leave then he’s going to leave. It’s not my problem that he overreacted.”

“It _is_ your problem. And now it’s mine too.” Harry returned, leaning against the island countertop. Louis hadn’t moved an inch away from the hall. “I don’t care that he found the video. But we should’ve told him. We should even tell Niall.”

“You really think that that’ll go well?”

“If I’m honest with him, of course. With Liam, he’s caught us, caught the old us, and is questioning how we feel for each other because c’mon, we’re not exactly modest, Louis. I’ll admit, sometimes it still seems like we’re a couple and not just best friends.”

Louis gave him a look.

“You know I’m right.”

The older sighed, shaking his head, growing more and more irritated over all of this. He rubbed his temple and sighed again. “Maybe... maybe we need to figure out if there’s anything here between us before we even decide to be with them.” After he’d said it though, he felt stupid. Nonetheless, maybe he did still have feelings for Harry like that, and he was right. They really weren’t modest about anything they ever did. Sometimes they’d even shower together--although it was because Louis was late for work. Regardless, thinking about his actions and how things could easily be misconstrued, Louis quickly pushed himself off of the wall and grabbed his car keys.

“Where are you going?” Harry asked hurriedly.

Louis looked over his shoulder as he headed for the door. “I need to go make things right with Liam. We can’t end like this.”

Within seconds, Louis was out the door and down the street, hoping Liam just went straight home.

 

xxx

 

Adjusting his headband in his lengthy hair, Harry exhaled as he stared at the computer screen. The makeshift t-shirt-turned-into-hair-accessory feel from its perch and he groaned. “I need a haircut.”

Then the little ringtone from Skype went off and Harry instantly saw Niall’s avatar on the screen. Nervously, he moved the mouse to answer but accidentally clicked decline. “Oh shite.” Quickly, he called him right back and he seemed confused when he answered.

“What the hell was that about?”

“I’m sorry, my mouse sucks. It doesn’t properly work,” Harry answered cheaply. The thing was that what he was about to confess was making him apprehensive. What if Louis was right and Niall wouldn’t react calmly to the past? It would kill him.

“I thought you had something to tell me?” He reminded, but Harry knew all too well what he needed to say. After Louis had left, he paced the living room in a circle around the coffee table, pondering on the idea of letting Niall know about him and Louis. Yet the more he thought about it, the more nervous and uncertain he became. He finally found the guts to text Niall to call him on Skype, stating that it was urgent.

“I-I do! I’m sorry, today’s been a day,” Harry sighed. He tugged the headband from his hair and ran his shaky fingers--he hoped Niall couldn’t see how scared he was--through his chocolate tresses.

“It was yer first day at the studio, right?”

“Mhm.”

“How do ya like it?” Niall’s normal cheerful self appeared and a sense of ease fell upon Harry.

He smiled. “I love it actually. Nick really makes work seem like fun.”

“Yer new co-worker?”

“Yep. Well, he’s technically my boss.”

“Ah. Sorry. Just strange fer ya t’ have a job. But that’s good. Gives ya somethin’ t’ keep yer mind off of things.” Niall couldn’t have been more right. They were on two different planets it seemed, an infinite space between them, and it was brutal. “I’ve got me schoolin’ so that helps...” he trailed, unsure of what to properly say. In fact, Harry noticed that Niall had almost checked out of the relationship as of late. This was the first time they’d talked in a while and it seemed strange.

“Yeah...”

Conversations usually weren’t this bleak. It was killing him.

“So, ya had somethin’ t’ tell me?” He reminded again and Harry sat up straight.

“Ah, right. Erm... where should I start?” He was beginning to want to back out of his confession. They weren’t exactly that serious.

“Maybe from the beginnin’?”

“Mmm...” he hummed in acknowledgment, looking away from the screen. Clearing his throat, Harry decided to go for it. “ _LouandIdatedbefore_.” It was quick. Way too quick that Niall didn’t hear it.

“Sorry, love, didn’t quite catch that.”

Harry faced the camera and blushed. “Louis and I are exes.”

There was nothing but silence. It was uncomfortable and Harry wanted to curl into a ball underneath his blanket and never come out. Or break it. But he didn’t know how to. This was exactly what he was afraid of. Niall seemed to be contemplating the idea, but he didn’t appear to be upset.

It was unnerving to say the least.

Because he didn’t even have any type of expression.

Minutes dragged on torturously until his Irish accent crashed through their quiet wall. “Ya know, I figured ya had. Why the sudden confession?”

Relief settled over Harry and the tenseness in his back suddenly disappeared. “Liam found out today, but Lou didn’t tell him.”

Niall quirked an eyebrow suspiciously. “How’d he find out?”

Harry put his hands up defensively. “Nothing serious. He just found an old video of ours. It was when Lou and I had bought our first apartment. Honest, we forgot we even had it.”

“Ah,” Niall exhaled, looking away in thought. He returned to the camera with a small smile. “Well, I mean, as long as it’s in the past it doesn’t bother me.”

“It really is,” Harry reassured, smiling softly as he looked his boyfriend in the eyes. With that off of his chest, maybe now things could go back to normal.

Niall cleared his throat after a while and asked, “So... was he like... yer first?”

“My first?”

“Ya.”

“Sure. I mean, I could tell you when I first discovered I was gay, but that might bore you.”

“Try me,” Niall dared, grinning cheekily.

“You sure you’re not too tired?”

“Nah, love. I’ve got time t’ hear about how ya came to be mine.”

Harry couldn’t help but feel a bit sheepish, and he was certain it showed since his face burned hot. “All right, you asked for it,” he warned jokingly. “Lou and I grew up together. He was my first in everything. My first friend, my first best friend, the first person I told secrets to. It wasn’t until I was twelve and had a dream about him that he realized I wasn’t exactly your normal run of the mill kid from Cheshire. I grew up rather lonely, so Louis was the only person I felt truly comfortable talking to, but when I felt like I should tell him about my abnormal dreams, I chickened out.” Harry fiddled with his comforter, staring at the way it bent around his fingers. He exhaled a lengthy breath he didn’t realize he was holding in. “Then one night he came to me, told me he thought he was gay and that he was scared. He was only fourteen, but I’m sure he felt he would get teased. You know how those school boys can be. But he knew he could trust me, it wasn’t like I had many friends to say anything to anyways. So then... then I told him that I liked him. Like, liked him liked him.” He smiled, shaking his head, feeling nostalgic at the memory. “It was the scariest thing I’d ever done in my life. Maybe I knew I was already in love with him? But I was so young that the idea of love wasn’t something I could’ve comprehended.

“I thought he might think I was weird, and that he was only joking when he said he was gay to maybe get me to admit it myself and then bully me for it. But you know what? He held me tight and said that he liked me too. Kinda crazy, how young we were, but we wanted to understand this strangeness. So when he kissed me, it felt like we were on fire, but that good kind of fiery feeling, ya know?” Niall nodded, seemingly familiar with the idea. “And it was history from there. We dated throughout school, passed our A-levels and got us an apartment. I was sixteen when I lost my virginity to him. Still young, but we were in love, so it didn’t matter either way.”

Niall was quiet for a while, searching for the words to ask his question properly, but realized there wasn’t a correct way to ask his question. “What made ya two split, then?”

“Funny enough, but we weren’t exactly perfect as a couple. We’d bicker a lot, acted more like brothers than lovers most times. Then one day he came home and said he’d met someone and we decided to be what we’d been for a while there. Just friends. Family.”

“Weren’t you upset?”

“Not really?” Harry shrugged, drawing circles on his blanket now. “I guess I must’ve been a bit butt hurt for a while, but we’d been losing that sort of feeling for a while there. It really was for the best.”

“I don’t know if I’d ever be able t’ do something like that. But yer strong for it, anyways.” Niall commended, looking straight through the screen to Harry, his eyes soft and understanding. He yawned, quickly covering his mouth. “Sorry, babe. Been a long day. Should probably turn in fer the night.”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, I should get myself to bed too. I’ll talk to you soon.’

“It’s a date,” Niall replied, blowing him a kiss. “Night, Hazza.”

Harry returned the blown kiss with a smile. “Night, Ni.”

 

xxx

 

Louis really didn’t know how it always came down to this. Literally, he was about to come all over Liam’s bed and had his face pressed down against the sheets, his hands gripping at the thin fabric while he moaned loud enough for the city of London to hear every note of his voice. He’d only come over to apologize to Liam and explain how things were between him and Harry. Really, it was just as innocent as that.

But for some reason, Liam expressed himself with sex, not that Louis was really complaining, yet it seemed almost out of character for him. Shit, maybe he was just that angry and needed a good fuck to get it out of his system after everything had been explained.

Louis was on the precipice of going over the edge when Liam pulled out quickly, lying on the bed all the while pulling Louis on top of him. “I was almost--”

“Then hold out. I want you to ride me.” His voice was strong and dominant and Louis would’ve been a fool to ignore a simply pleasurable request. Here was the thing, and he’d never admit it out loud because that’s just embarrassing and Louis isn’t about embarrassing himself. But he had a daddy kink. No one knew this, and he was was sure not even Liam realized it, but the poor boy had been dying to say it for months. Everytime Liam maintained his dominance like this, it just riled Louis up so much, turned him on harder than anything else could and he just wanted to--

“Yes, _daddy_ ,” Louis hummed, the words blurting effortlessly from his lips before he knew he’d said it. Liam’s eyes went wide and he was stunned. Clearly, it was a bit of a turn on for him as a bit of pre-cum spilled on his stomach, coating his abs and urging Louis to want to lick them. Then, without another word, Louis lined himself up, moving Liam’s cock properly as he slowly sunk down on him, biting his bottom lip as he moaned loudly, beginning to feel so full. He promised, that for the rest of his life, he wanted to always feel as full as this, because Liam goddamned Payne was a motherfucking genius in bed and oh shit, that he felt so good inside of him.

Liam seemed to agree as he gripped Louis’ hips and held him there, probably leaving bruises, but Louis didn’t care. He wanted the world to know that Liam makes him feel so good. Or maybe just Harry and Niall because he loved seeing the embarrassed look on their faces. Once he was fully seated, Liam slowly began thrusting his hips up, grinding into him lengthy and teasingly, but it had Louis moaning loudly despite himself.

Planting his hands on Liam’s chest, Louis was already feeling breathless the moment Liam started bouncing him, pounding up into him fast and hard and oh god it was _hot hot hot_ and Louis never wanted him to stop. “You like that, huh?” Liam grunted.

Louis nodded, gasping out a, “ _yes_ , _daddy_ ,” practically sending Liam over the edge. It just sounded so pornographic, and it was so hot he just wanted to finish right then and there, but Louis was still holding out for him, being such a good boy obeying his Daddy, how could Liam possibly succumb so easily when he had something to show for? He reached a hand around and pressed his finger up inside Louis, groaning at how tight he was.

“Ah... daddy. Yesss.... right thereeee,” Louis mewled, gripping Liam’s shoulders as he moved his hips to meet with Liam’s thrusts. It didn’t last long, but Liam made quick work of getting Louis off so he could follow after. Louis came in spurts over Liam’s chest, his cheeks reddening almost instantly, even though this wasn’t a first.

They got up and cleaned themselves off, sitting on the bed casually. “So,” Liam began, clasping his hands together as he looked over his shoulder to Louis. “‘Daddy’? Yeah?”

Louis instantly felt bashful, so much so that he hid his face against the bed, pulling the covers over him. Liam laughed, pulling the comforter off of him and slapped his arse. There was a pleased yelp from the older boy and Liam would be lying if he said it didn’t turn him on a bit. He leaned towards him, gripping Louis’ arse with both hands, loving how his cheeks seemingly fit perfectly in his palms, and he bit one of them lightly, emitting that same pleased yelp. “Shit, Li... we just...”

“Be a good boy, baby,” Liam instructed and Louis quickly regained his submissive self, bracing himself for whatever Liam had planned. What he wasn’t expecting was Liam spreading his cheeks and licking against his hole, kissing and sucking at the sensitive skin. It was like he was asking for Louis to cum again, but it’d mess the bed up and he really didn’t want to clean it but--”Oh shit... yeah, daddy,” he moaned as Liam added a finger, curling it around for his prostate, all the while making quick work with his tongue.

“Liam! I’m home!” Came Zayn’s voice from the living room and dammit all if he had to always ruin things for him. Growling, Liam got up from the bed, threw his pants on and quickly left the room, leaving Louis laying there, arse up, dazed, and confused.

“Well that was romantic,” Louis grumbled, spreading his body about the bed and ignoring the fact that he definitely still had a raging boner, but that was beside the point.

The point was that he was left there, high and dry--wet actually--all because Zayn was the biggest cockblocker in the history of cockblockers and he hoped and prayed that Liam was going in there to murder him. Okay, maybe that was a bit extreme, but Louis didn’t proper feel like putting clothes on to confront his boyfriend’s best friend, so whatever he did was well enough for him.

He decided to listen in, see if he could hear anything from their conversation.

“Mate, how ya been?” Zayn asked.

Liam grumbled, “You’re the biggest cockblock. You know that right?”

“Huh?” He seemed to take a few moments to process the information. “O _hhhhhhh_. Sorry, mate. Just kinda came home to see if you wanted to get lit.”

“Ah, well, you have fun with that. I don’t feel like getting high.” Liam answered, and Louis could hear him coming back into the room.

“I wanna get high,” Louis practically pouted, only lifting half of his body up to turn and look at Liam. At least he had a nice view of his arse.

Liam rolled his eyes though. “So you’d rather get high than let me eat you out? I see your priorities are showing.” It was a tease, but Louis took it seriously.

“N-No! That’s definitely not what I meant. But... maybe... afterwards? Or before? I always wanted to have sex while high. Heard you feel it more and you’re super sensitive and...” Louis shivered at the idea, feeling his semi growing again.

Liam thought about it for a moment and conceded to give Louis what he simply wanted. “Put on some clothes and join us in the living room then,” he instructed, heading back to said room and closing the door behind him silently.

Louis hopped to his feet, urging his dick to go down--it took a few minutes, which is why he wasn’t out right away, not that he’d admit it. He liked to think he had good self control--and trudged out the door to join the others. Liam sat between Zayn and Louis and he turned on the telly to Top Gear. Zayn didn’t like it, but Louis loved it. So did Niall, which is why Liam got into it in the first place.

Zayn packed the weed into his cleverly decorated pipe and lit it with a certain routine ease. Louis was excited. It’d been a while since he’d been high and the thought of being high and then getting some from Liam afterwards created this hotness in the pit of his stomach that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. Maybe it was a mixture between hunger, lust, and the incredible urge to get off.

Zayn took a hit from the pipe, held it in and exhaled after a few moments. He passed it over to Louis who took it proudly. The lighter flickered into ignition and he breathed the smoke in, remembering how proper he used to be at this. But it’d been so long and he was coughing a bit. Zayn tried to stifle a laugh, but Liam didn’t hide it. He nudged Louis with a grin.

“Noob.”

“I’d like to--” _cough_ “--to see you do this, Payno.”

Liam never backed down from a challenge. “You’re on, Tommo.” He took the pipe from Louis, lit and suckled on it almost professionally. Louis’ bright blues widened, catching Liam’s eyes, and within seconds, he had his open mouth against Louis’ and was shotgunning him.

Holding the fumes in greedily, Louis already felt high.

“‘Ow ya like et, mate,” Zayn’s thick Bradford accent sounded thicker than usual. His big brown eyes were slitted as he watched the others with a shit eating grin on his face. “Good shite innit?”

“Yeah buddy!” Louis agreed.

They laughed.

 

Louis didn’t quite remember how they got back to Liam’s room, but it was just them two, sitting on his bed, watching the rest of Top Gear on his telly. They never talked about Liam’s job, but he apparently made a lot of money and lived very well. Why they spent most of their time at his apartment was beyond Louis. This was a grand palace compared to his “shithole”.

He was still on his high. They’d finished the whole bowl and a half of another before Louis distinctly remembered Zayn saying something about going to bed. From then on, they must’ve found their way back to Liam’s room.

Rolling over to wrap his arm around Louis’ chest, Liam dipped his face into the crook of his neck. His slight stubble was scratchy but he loved the burning sensation and gave a small giggle. Liam’s lips fluttering against Louis’ earlobe, “Can’t believe you got me high.”

Louis giggled again. It really wasn’t that funny, but it was probably the weed doing this to him. “Can’t believe it either, you’re usually such a... a...” _daddy_ , he wants to say, but he’s still apprehensive over it. He marked it off as a moment of vulnerability, being fucked raw and dominated. But in a simple setting, he couldn’t say it, despite the fact that he was high and would probably say anything.

He might even talk about his feelings.

Liam didn’t catch what he stuttered over and proceeded to kiss along the nape of his neck. He was distracting him for a reason, he realized after his skin began to feel sore. Sometimes Liam did this, used sex as a means to distract from the things on his mind. Louis wasn’t sure he wanted to ask, but he did and that was the problem.

Reluctantly, he pried Liam from his chest and looked him straight in the eyes. “Hey, something on your mind?”

Liam’s face hardened. “No.”

“There is,” Louis stated, sitting up against the headboard of the bed. “C’mon, talk to me.”

Sighing, Liam sat next to his boyfriend, crossing his legs and looking forward towards the telly. He feigned watching it, trying so hard not to talk.

“Lee-yum~” Louis cooed and the younger turned to him, his eyes sad. Louis frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Just... it’s been bothering me...” He hesitated. “The fact that you and Harry are exes yet still live with each other.”

Any other time, seriously, any other time, and Louis would’ve changed the subject, but he was still very much so high and willing to talk about anything. He didn’t even care to have sex, which was an oddity in itself, but he wasn’t going to question it. Bringing his knees up to his chest, Louis blew a stray hair from his eyes and proceeded to give him a reply, “What are you saying? That you think it’s not okay?”

“I’m not saying that. Well... maybe I am?” He scratched the back of his head. “I mean, it’s just strange. I guess I just want to know if you feel anything for him anymore.”

“I don’t.” Louis’ quick answer came and Liam’s eyes were stern, hand frozen on the back of his neck. “Harry is... he’s special, that’s no secret, but he and I just don’t work as lovers. He was my first for a lot of things, but,” he paused, leaving circles on the top of his foot, trying to busy his mind with something else, suddenly feeling uncomfortable talking about how he felt. Gulping, he sucked it up and continued to answer Liam’s undying curiosity. “But I met someone else and clicked better with them on a physical level than with Harry.”

“So, he couldn’t satisfy you in bed?” Liam pondered.

“More like... I was too much for him. I wanted more than just making love. I wanted rougher things and Harry wasn’t ever into it.” Louis met Liam’s eyes for the first time in minutes, and he could see a sort of lustful curiosity replacing his previous wonderings. “I think he sort of figured we were drifting in the relationship and wasn’t exactly surprised when I came home basically asking for a divorce but hoping I could still stay in the same apartment. We’ve never felt closer, honestly. Probably why he puts up with us being so loud all the goddamned time.”

“You mean, _you_ being loud.”

Louis waved him off with a grin. “Yeah yeah.” He faced the telly again. “You done wondering about things? Can we go back to being stupid in love?”

“One more thing.”

His eyebrows quirked up, intrigued by the sound of Liam’s voice. It was deep and hushed and sounded so sexy. “Hmm?”

“So you’re into BDSM?”

He didn’t waste time hitting the nail on the head. The fact, _no_ , the idea of Liam being interested in his kinky fantasies was enough to get Louis hot and bother, but he liked to think he had better self control than that.

If Liam goddamned Payne wanted to explore BDSM, then Louis wasn’t going to beg to differ.

 

 


	8. Broken Promises and Christmas Wishes

It’s early. Too early, and Harry’s wondering why the fuck he’s even awake when he really only felt like he’d been asleep for twenty minutes. Groaning, he opened one eye and glanced to the alarm clock. 3:13am. Great. Now the lingering question was why in the hell he was awake at this hour.

The answer was simple.

He had a sex dream about Niall and his cock did all the work for him.

Sighing, Harry lifted his comforter, eyeing the tent in his trackies and groaned even louder this time. He didn’t know if Louis was home or not, but if he was, he had to have been dead asleep to not have heard that. The thought occurred to Harry that a quick wank couldn’t hurt. It’d been a few days since his last one, and that was because Niall had told him he was a virgin, but he had these sexual fantasies--which were actual quite mild, but hey, what can he say? He was a virgin after all--and decided to blurt them all out to Harry. Left the poor guy harder than a popsicle stick.

Harry also thought about going the easiest route and just take a cold arse shower and get back to bed because he needed to be awake in two more hours.

But the idea of missing such a wonderful opportunity, especially with the image of Niall’s virgin mouth wrapped around his hard cock circling his every thought, Harry would definitely blue ball himself. So the only thing he could do was it, and maybe possibly never utter a word that he was thinking so lewdly about his boyfriend every night.

Tucking his hand under the inseam, Harry pulled his cock out, the very touch instantly sending jolts of pleasure. He moaned softly, his deep voice sort of loud in the quietness of his apartment. He really hoped Louis was at Liam’s, but a part of him sort of wanted him to hear how he pleasured himself.

Then the idea struck him as pathetic and he shook the negativity away, focusing on the task at hand.

 _Haha. Hand... Handy..._ Harry joked to himself, tugging up his shaft softly before bringing two fingers to his mouth, sucking on them greedily. Drenched, he pulled them out of his mouth before spreading his saliva around the rest of his hand, reaching back to grasp his cock and pump his hand around dutifully. It wasn’t what he really wanted, no, but it was enough to get him through. He just needed only a couple more weeks and he’d show up to Niall’s in Mullingar and wish him the best Merry Christmas he could, and hopefully, maybe, they’d finally have sex for the first time.

That idea in itself drove Harry over the edge and he was cumming in his palm, moaning loudly--maybe stumbling over Niall’s name through the moan. He pulled a few tissues from their box and cleaned himself up, pumping a few squirts of hand sanitizer in his hand before rubbing the substance over his dirtied hands. He knew it wasn’t enough to get him completely clean, but it was half three and he really needed to get back to sleep.

Hopefully he wouldn’t have another wet dream about Niall and he’d actually get some decent rest.

 

xxx

 

"So you ready for this, Styles?" Nick asked, groping his hand around the mic's neck. Harry observed his every move, noting the way he sexually caressed objects. Even the way he touched his legs, wiping his hands like a dirty whore who'd just cum into his palm after a good wank. Okay, he was not thinking about his boss touching himself. He really wasn't that sex deprived--well he was. It'd been a good two years since he'd touched anyone. Basically since Louis, who, bless his soul, tried multiple times to help him pick up some bird at the pub but Harry was the romantic type. He didn't want just a fuck on the side.

He really wasn't as experienced as Niall figured he'd be, but admitting that was a whole different and awkward subject he really refused to brush on.

Louis used to praise him, but Harry knew it was just a front, trying to give confidence to his loving boyfriend. Harry knew better than that, knew that Louis craved more. So much more that he couldn't give.

Okay, he really needed to stop thinking about sex and how things used to be. It was the present now and Niall was the only one he wanted to explore.

Shaking his head, he drifted back to reality when Nick called his name to grab his withered attention. "Yeah?"

"Ready to actually take the mic? Been a couple of weeks since we started training you."

"You really want my slow voice on the radio at 6am? It might cause accidents because... Ya know? It'll be like a lullaby."

Nick actually smirked at Harry's dumb joke. "I think it'll be sexy. Make more listeners tune in. But," he paused for emphasis on his big news. "You won't be by yourself in on the show."

"You gonna join me?"

Nick chuckled. "Nah, but I know you'll like who is."

Harry actually quirked an eyebrow. "Oh?"

The door opened and in came a familiar ginger haired musician that Harry absolutely idolized. Ed Sheeran.

"Hello, mate. Ed," he introduced, shaking Harry's hand politely.

The idea of meeting him never crossed his mind and right now it was going a thousand different directions. "Harry,” he murmured, smiling vibrantly at the ginger as they both seated themselves across from each other.

It was a simple ordeal, or it should’ve been. All Harry needed to do was ask the questions he was given on a sheet of paper that Nick had so graciously printed out--well he said he did, but his assistant Janice did and Harry knew better than to believe a lick of his lies--but he totally blanked, forgot the paper was there and out came word vomit.

He couldn’t stop asking about all of his songs and where he came up with the ideas and on his inspirations in general. Harry dabbled in songwriting, could sort of play the guitar--he learned how to when he and his “friends” from secondary started a band called White Eskimo. It was all right, he was all right, and Louis begged him to go onto X-Factor, but Harry was too shitless to go, so he didn’t.

Harry always wondered what his life would be like if he’d only gone that day.

In any case, at the end of the interview, the recording was off and Harry could have a real chat with the bloke, something he’d been itching to do. Surprisingly enough, Ed exchanged his number with the brunette and asked to have drinks that Friday. Harry would’ve played it off like he had something else planned--he really didn’t of course--but how rude of him if he didn’t give Ed-fucking-Sheeran the time of day.

He couldn’t wait to get home and tell Niall.

 

Nick caught Harry just as he was leaving for the day, grasping his shoulder tightly in a bit of a pinch. “Ow!” Harry yelped, turning around quickly.

He glared.

“Bit of a twat aren’t ya? Not asking the questions you were given.” He tried to be angry, but Harry could see right through him. That was the thing about Nick Grimshaw, he wasn’t exactly a closed book and even someone as slow as Harry Styles could figure him out without a problem. He pressed against the wall, arms crossed and looking at his boss with a smirk.

“Those questions were shite and ya know it.”

“Janice doesn’t exactly have a colorful mind, but you were given a job.”

“It went better than it would’ve, Nick. Cut me some slack.”

“Only if you go for drinks with me.”

Harry was about to say something cheeky, but he paused. “Huh?”

“Have a drink with me, Styles. I know I’m your boss, but I’d like to be your friend too.”

He quirked an ever curious eyebrow, straightening his back while observing his body language. Nick appeared to be quite genuine and serious about the suggestion, but something felt sort of off. He just couldn’t pinpoint it. Anyways, he shrugged and nodded. “Text me later where you want to meet up. I’m gonna have lunch with Lou and make sure the apartment is how I left it this morning,” he joked. Normally anyone would just roll their eyes in disgust at Harry’s stupid attempts at jokes, but not Nick. No, he laughed at everything he said and it made Harry wonder if he was just doing it to be nice.

Nick patted him on the back as they headed out to the parking garage. “All right, Styles. Maybe one day I’ll get to meet this chaotic roommate of yours.”

“Maybe.”

 

xxx

 

“Definitely not.”

“But Louuuuuuuu~”

“No. I don’t like the way that pompous arse talks on the radio. The only bloody reason I tune in is just so I can hear you mess up.” Louis argued, pointing his fork at Harry before stuffing the piece of sirloin into his mouth, chewing the meat like a cow.

Harry slumped his shoulders in a pout. “But he’s really actually kind of cool once you get past his whole ‘I’m better than you’ front he gives off. I swear. He’s a proper gentleman.”

“Not buying it, Haz,” Louis murmured, not caring he had a mouth full of food. “Besides, if you want to hang out with him, that’s fine. But it’s okay to have friends that aren’t mine.”

Harry supposed he had to agree with him. He tried, at least.

“Talk to Niall lately?” Louis inquired as he hovered pursed lips over his straw before sipping greedily.

Harry nodded. “Yep. Last night actually. But I turned in early.”

“ _Early_? Not from what I heard coming from your bedroom at almost half three.” Louis waggled his eyebrows at Harry and he knew, just _knew_ , he was red all over his face.

He tried so hard not to think about how hard he was this morning. It was sort of an embarrassment to him. Niall and Harry didn’t sext, or have phone sex, so what else was he to do? Not like he was going to cheat on Niall when he was the luckiest guy in the world to have ever had the chance with him. But the look Louis was giving him stated that he needed to have a talk with Niall and do the deed, or to cheat.

Louis had no shame.

Groaning, Harry rubbed his face aggravatedly and pulled at the skin by the outside of his eyeballs. “Oi, that doesn’t look very comfortable.”

“Neither is this conversation,” Harry grumbled, exhaling loudly as he ducked his head down against the table, tugging at the back of his head. “I need a haircut.” He murmured, more to himself than anything.

“You need to get _laid_ ,” Louis whined, gesturing his hands towards Harry, completely exasperated. Harry quickly shushed him, eyebrows furrowed in almost angrily, but he was just embarrassed about the whole situation.

“Shouldn’t you be sucking Liam’s cock right now?” Harry whispered. Louis shrugged, looking out the cafe window to make funny faces at this kid peeping into the restaurant. “That’s mature.”

Louis disregarded him, though, knowing that kids loved making faces back, which this one did. Chuckling, he pressed his body up against the glass, licking at the window and Harry’s flustered, attempting to pull him away before they get kicked out.

“Excuse me, sir, but please step away from the window,” a waitress called and Harry cursed to himself silently.

“Make me!” Louis cackled hysterically, rutting his hips to the glass, the kid running away--completely scarred, Harry was sure.

“Sir!”

Louis only laughed louder.

 

“I can never take you anywhere.” Harry grumbled, hands in his pockets, scuffing his feet against the concrete as they made their two block trek to the Range Rover. Thing about London he hated, how more often than not, he had to park away from the actual place he wanted to be at.

Louis was skipping, _skipping_ , alongside Harry and it was disgusting. Absolutely disgustingly adorable and he was so furious with this immature twat. “I think that went well.”

“Lou, we got kicked out of my favorite cafe. Now I have to find somewhere else to go.”

“At least we didn’t have to pay the bill.”

“ _You_ didn’t, but I had to. Paid for the whole fucking ticket, even the food I didn’t get!” Harry exclaimed animatedly gesturing his hands while he talked. Louis didn’t pay him any mind though, that’s just how he was. He was right proud of himself. “Fine, just makes me wonder who the older one here is.”

Louis frowned, slowing his pace to match Harry’s scuffle. “Hey! I’m the older one. Not my problem you don’t know how to have fun.”

“I do, just don’t act like a bloody eejit in public. Now I have the right to call you a window licker and it has meaning.” Harry smirked, watching as Louis’ face fell into an offended expression.

“Rude.”

“You’re welcome.”

 

xxx

 

“He’s driving me nuts, Nialler.” Harry groaned later when he’d caught Niall on Skype. “I don’t want to say it, but I’m going to suffocate him in his sleep. I just know I will.”

Niall’s laugh rang through his headphones like a soothing melody. He really missed this. Missed him and his warmth and positivity and sane stupidity. The thought still occurred that if Niall and Louis were in the same place pulling a prank, it’d be a million times worse than today and that scared Harry. “At least you can call ‘im a window licker. I’d be takin’ full advantage o’ that.”

Then it hit him like a sudden bag of bricks to the face. Niall was red in the cheeks and completely shirtless. Like that didn’t help his sexual frustration as of late. “Oi, have you been drinking?”

Niall had no shame. He reached for his beer and toasted the bottle towards the camera.

“Taken the piss without me? How selfish of you.”

Niall shrugged, taking a drink. “Can’t help that I have needs Hazza.”

 _Needs_ , _yeah I’ve have needs too._ Harry thought sullenly but kept his bright smile focused on the blonde. It wasn’t really Niall’s fault, it was more his than anything. He didn’t _need_ sex, but he really wanted it. Missed it, in fact, but he had to keep reminding himself that it wasn’t as important as the relationship. “Yeah, okay, I’ll give you that one,” he simply agreed, reaching for his water bottle on the nightstand.

Then he remembered. “Oh! Guess who I met today?”

“The Queen of England?”

Harry shushed him. “No. Ed Sheeran.”

He waited a moment to let the fact sink in and Niall was instantly pressed against the screen, eyes wide and face in awe. “No fuckin’ way! How’d that even happen?”

“Radio show. It’s got some perks. I got to interview him this morning.” Harry smiled, feeling accomplished.

Niall leaned back in his recliner, rocking back and forth, bringing his beer up to his lips while he thought long about the fact that his boyfriend was cooler than him right now. “Wow, ain’t you lucky.”

Harry hummed in agreement, letting his eyes wander over Niall’s body. He looked so relaxed, only in a pair of jeans and some Calvin Klein pants that were peeping out in a tease. He had his leg resting over his other, and his guitar was leaning against the side of his chair, begging to be played. Of course, Niall was more focused on his beer and the fact that he needed another one to really notice that Harry was in fact checking him out.

This was getting out of hand, he had to stop thinking so lewdly about him. It wasn’t important to their relationship, but why did it feel like it was? Not like Niall really mentioned sex often. Only a few times here and there, but if Harry were to bring it up, he wasn’t sure how he’d react.

“I see that look in your eye.”

“Huh?” Harry pulled himself from his thoughts to find that Niall had gotten closer to the screen.

“I know what that look is, Hazza.” Niall said again and Harry was confused. Maybe he’d seen right through him. “And I want you to know that I want it just as badly.”

Yep. He caught him. But wait. “What? Really?”

Niall nodded with a small grin tugging at the side of his lips. “Yeah… Been all I can think about the past few nights. Waking up with a tent at half three has really been gettin’ t’ me.”

“You too, huh?” Harry laughed nervously, running his hand through his hair. He didn’t make eye contact, afraid that if he did, that’d be the end of it and he would just lose his mind. He really was though. This whole ordeal had seemed so one sided and now that it wasn’t made things seemingly more complicated. “Been driving me mad. My hand can only do so much.” This was embarrassing, but he was glad they could have this conversation.

Niall laughed, “Yer tellin’ me.” Soon enough though, things became silent between them, filling the quiet void with awkwardness. Their eyes met and the instant realization that they were miles away hit them with a loud groan from both ends. “Fuck.”

“Would be nice,” Harry mumbled nonchalantly, looking down at his lap.

“Did ya really just—?” Niall snorted, flashing his perfect teeth at Harry. The moment it hit him, Harry’s face was flushed red and looking away from the screen. “No no no. Please lookit me.” He did. Niall was holding both sides of the computer as if he were holding Harry’s face. “It’ll happen soon.”

“Yeah? You sure you’re ready?”

“Harry, I’m twenty-one years old. I think it’s bout time I lose me virginity.” Harry cleared his throat and sat closer to the computer. A thought crossed his mind, but he didn’t know how to say it. “What?”

“Just… maybe we could…” He started, hoping Niall would understand where he was going with this.

He didn’t.

“We could what?”

“I don’t know… Maybe… have a wank over Skype?” He suggested, completely embarrassed but upon noticing Niall’s cheeks flushing with a similar tint on his cheeks, he felt relieved.

“Y-Yeah… We could do that.”

Harry smiled, looking at the clock. He jumped up, startled because he’d totally forgot about his plans with Nick. “Shite. Niall, I have to go.”

“Oh.” Disappointment was laced in his voice.

“No no no no. Please don’t think that. I just totally forgot I had made plans for dinner with Nick and I can’t stand him up.”

“Ah.”

“But, I promise, tonight. When I get home I’ll call you and we can… together.”

“Promise?”

“Yes, love.”

“Looking forward to it.” Niall remarked, drinking the last bit of his beer. “I’ll see ya later, ya?”

Harry hummed a yes before Niall ended the call.

 

Having drinks with Nick wasn’t as bad as Harry thought it would be. He wasn’t much different outside of work, but he was more playful and flirtatious than he usually was. Or maybe that was just the eleven shots of tequila he’d had. Harry really wasn’t sure. What he was sure of it, was how drunk he’d gotten over the past… wait, what time was it?

“Shite,” Harry growled, looking at the time on his watch. He didn’t know where his phone was, and it was already half twelve. Way past the time he said he’d be home to call Niall. “Shite, Nick, I need to go.”

“Nooooooooo don’t leave me~” Nick whined childishly, grabbing at Harry’s hand clumsily. “We’ve only just started having fun.”

“I’m sorry, but I was supposed to be home at ten. I can’t believe I’m late,” Harry quickly pulled away from Nick, searching frantically for his phone and finding it shoved into one of the booth cushions, before he headed to the street to call for a cab, too inebriated to dare drive the Range Rover home.

 

Harry recalled when Louis had called him several times, left him just as many voicemails and more text messages, and it was basically the end of the world. Even though all he needed was to know where the salt was, but to Louis, everything was a crisis. But the one time Harry needed Louis, it didn’t mean anything. Since then, Harry’s always made sure to answer or at least call someone back right away.

So the fact that he allowed for Niall to go two missed calls, a voicemail and three messages, made Harry feel like a complete douche nozzle and that he obviously didn’t deserve to have a boyfriend. It was around one when he finally got home and he was sure Niall was livid. It was hard picturing the boy angry, but he knew he was more than capable of feeling irritated or worse.

 _“Hey Harry. I guess you’re not back from dinner with Nick.”_ Harry listened to the voicemail disdainfully, feeling bloody awful because Niall wasn’t angry. He just sounded incredibly disappointed. _“I’m sorry I missed ya tonight. Maybe I’ll talk to you soon. Bye.”_ He wanted to punch himself in the gut and die. He’d never heard him so sad before and he really didn’t know what to do to make it right. Hastily, he called Niall, disregarding the time of night and that tomorrow was a school day for Niall.

Three rings go by and there’s a faint, “Hello?” on the other end.

“Niall! God I’m so sorry I—”

“Harry, it’s half one.”

“I-I know… I’m such a cunt, I know. I’m just… sorry. I’m so so so sorry…”

“You sound drunk, just go t’ bed, I have to be up in a few hours,” Niall grumbled, and Harry could just imagine how frustrated he looked right now, rubbing his sleepy eyes and kicking the covers to get comfortable under the intense heat his body gave off in sleep. Harry was never sure if Niall had inhuman body temperature or he just farted a lot in his sleep.

Probably the latter.

Sighing, he smashed the palm of his hand over his face and leaned against the wall, sliding down it dramatically as he held the phone tightly against his ear. “I really just need to make sure things are okay.”

Minutes passed and Harry had figured Niall passed out until a harsh sigh could be heard. “They’re fine. Now go t’ bed. I’ll talk t’ ya tomorrow.”

“O-Okay…” Harry surrendered, pouting irrefutably that things weren’t okay, because he sounded upset and tired and a bit disappointed, and Harry was just a mess.

“G’night Harry,” he whispered before hanging up.

Dropping the phone to his side, he angrily hit his head against the wall a few times before pulling his knees up to his chin and sulking.

“What the hell, Harold?” Louis’ sleepy voice growled from the right of him. The light flickered on and blinded Harry, his hands doing little to shield the brightness. “It’s almost two in the morning. What the fuck are you doing hittin’ yer head against the wall?!”

“Shhh, Lou. You’ll wake the neighbors,” Harry murmured quietly, pressing a finger to his lips.

“You’ve already woke me, so I don’t rightfully care whether or blood not everyone else does!”

Harry didn’t fight him though, he just returned to sulking into his knees with a huge sigh. It finally hit Louis that he wasn’t doing so well and the anger subsided and was replaced with concern. “What happened?”

“Just broke a promise.”

Louis perched next to him, nudging Harry’s shoulder playfully. “Well that’s not like you. Was it a serious promise?”

“Sorta. I don’t know. I just messed up, Lou, and Niall’s so upset even though he won’t say so.”

Louis looked to his feet, wiggled his toes and pursed his lips to the side in thought. “Did you buy your ticket yet?” Harry nodded, only moving his chin up and down his knees as he stared forward at the lining between the wood flooring and the carpet in the living room. “Maybe it’ll make things up then?”

“Maybe. If we’re still together that is.”

He hit Harry’s shoulder, “Don’t talk like that!”

“Ow! Geez Lou…” Harry whined, rubbing the tender spot on his shoulder. “Didn’t have to hit me so hard.”

“Sure I did. Don’t think that everything’s over just because of something that could easily be fixed.”

“We were going to have sex on Skype, Lou. It was kind of a big deal.”

Louis sunk into himself. “Oh.” He hummed while thinking. “Could always send a dick pic.”

“Not sure it’ll help.”

“It could! Or maybe play him a song.”

Harry shrugged. “Dunno. I think I might have to do some groveling. And probably never hang out with Nick again when I’ve plans with Niall.”

It all became clear at once and Louis was furious. “See! I told you that Nick wasn’t any good to be spending time with. Now he’s got you all distracted from the important things in your life.” Harry gave him a look. “Not saying that sex is more important, but Niall is. He comes before your job, sometimes, even before me. Only when I’m with Liam though. Any other time, I’m more important,” he grinned proudly and Harry couldn’t help but smirk, shoving him with his body.

“Sure you are, Lou.”

“Damn right I am!” He placed his hands on his hips, crossed his legs and sat up smugly. “Best thing since sliced bread, and you know it!”

“Thanks, Louis.”

Glancing down at his best friend, he smiled softly at him, pulling him into a side hug. “What are friends for?”

 

xxx

 

Harry and Niall weren’t exactly on talking terms since that night. It wasn’t like they didn’t talk, but it was less frequent and lonelier than Harry had ever felt before. He didn’t realize how big of a deal it was for Niall and now he really wished this plane would take off sometime soon—like right now—so he could finally see him and make everything right again. He and Nick hadn’t really discussed what had happened either. It was only a week ago, but the conversation just never came up and Harry didn’t really want to explain himself either.

Pulling his phone out, he had a message from him and one from Louis. Knowing that Louis was probably talking about Liam’s dick, he decided to open Nick’s message first.

_Hope I didn’t get you into any sort of trouble the last time we hung out. :(_

_Nah. Just needed to be somewhere. Sorry I had to rush out like that._

_Idk… it just seemed like something really important is all._

_It’s okay. I’ll see you next week, okay?_

_Next week?_

_Yeah… I’m going on vacation for Christmas, remember?_

_Oh yeah… Ireland, right?_

_That’s the one. I’ll be gone for a little while. My flight leaves in an hour. Text me if you need anything._

_Will do, Styles! Have fun! :)_

Harry smiled at the screen and pocketed the device before heading towards the terminal to wait in line. He hated airplanes, but he was pretty used to them. Niall said he always had anxiety going on them and could never sleep. Harry didn’t really have an issue there, but he used to, so he didn’t blame him. Before Niall had left for home, he gave him a schedule so that he could sleep on the plane.

Niall claimed it didn’t work.

 

xxx

 

It seemed like a fantasy, standing on the front porch step of his boyfriend’s house, in the dead of winter at night, hoping he was home. Shivering, Harry glanced around the snow covered porch, wishing he’d worn a heavier jacket. He checked the weather channel while packing, but must’ve missed the forecast of heavy snow and below zero Celsius temps. Rubbing his shoulders for warmth, he fumbled into his pockets for his phone that he’d shoved away somewhere between the airport and getting into the cab. Finding it, he flicked through his contacts, frozen thumb flinching at the touch of the even colder screen. Locating Niall’s number he called it, waiting for an answer.

It went to voicemail.

Frowning, he tried again, taking a few steps back from the front porch to peer into the windows. The only light on, besides the front light, was coming from a room on the top left of the house. It was faint, almost coming from the light of a cell phone, and then it instantly disappeared and Harry’s call had gone to voicemail.

He was screening his bloody calls!

Groaning, Harry shuffled between his feet, moving around for warmth because this jumper seriously wasn’t warm enough and he was scared he’d freeze before Niall would even know he was there. It was too late to knock on the front door, since he didn’t want to wake Niall’s mum up.

So he tried again, watching the window light up and darken. After the beep, Harry’s teeth chattered as he spoke. “N-Niall… i-it’s fucking c-cold out here… C-Can you come o-open the d-door pl-please?” He ended the call and waiting patiently, hoping and praying that Niall would hear the voice message and let him in.

Nothing. Complete darkness in the room and Harry was at a loss for ideas. Searching the front of the house, he saw a lattice ladder climbing up the side and to the roof, where he could easily crawl up to Niall’s window. Hopefully it wasn’t too icy because he didn’t fancy having a broken anything.

Gulping, he gathered his courage and attempted the climb.

It wasn’t too slippery, but maybe he should’ve decided on better shoes than his favorite worn out boots. With effort, Harry was crawling up the dark shingles and reaching out to knock at the freezing window.

He knocked again.

Still nothing.

“Dammit…” he cursed softly, watching his breath float up into the black of the night. At this point, he was so cold that he couldn’t feel the cold anymore. Really didn’t know if it was good or bad.

He tried to think of another way to get his attention, panting from the climb, but coming up with nothing else. He could call Louis and have Liam ask Niall to open the window, but that seemed a nuisance and bothering Louis at eleven at night meant that he was most likely shagging Liam.

Interrupting that would mean his death and Harry quite liked living.

Sighing, he cleared his throat and went to knock again when suddenly the curtains opened up and Niall was wide eyed in shock. Flashing a dimpled smile at him, Harry couldn’t ignore his freezing body any longer. The window flew open and a gush of hot air escaped, engulfing Harry for a moment before disappearing.

“What the hell, Harry?”

“I came to see you. Merry Christmas?” He gave cheekily, sitting up on the roof but slipped. Niall reached out and held onto Harry’s jumper tightly, pulling him back up to the window.

“You’re a bloody idiot. You could’ve froze to death!”

Harry’s eyebrows went up and he was grasping his sides in a harsh shiver. “C-Can we t-talk inside?”

Niall nodded quickly, helping the brunette inside, and shutting the window behind him. “Shite, you really had me freaked out,” he cursed, closing the curtains and yanking his blanket from the bed to wrap around Harry’s lengthy form, rubbing his arms over the warm fabric. He just stood there, shaking but grinning from ear to ear and Niall was at a loss of how he should be properly reacting. “I literally didn’t think that was you out there. Thought I was imagining things.”

“Nope… ‘S me.”

“I see that,” Niall couldn’t help but smile, still massaging his palms over his arms, unsure if he was still helping him or that it was comforting him. He was really here. In the flesh. His heart raced, had his mind stuttering at things to say to Harry, but nothing felt right. He wanted to yell at him for many things, but he also wanted to kiss that stupid smiling mug of his because he missed him so goddamned much.  “Why are you here?”

“To apologize.”

It was a simple word, but it was the sweetest thing he’d heard in the longest time. But this was him, Harry Styles, the master of grand gestures. Deep down, though, Niall knew he shouldn’t easily forgive him just because he showed up unexpectedly. Actually, any normal human being would be completely ticked off for something this showy.

What if he wasn’t even home and Harry had stood outside, waiting for him, until he became a human popsicle?! Niall didn’t even want to think of it, but it could’ve been a possibility.

He’d like to think Harry wasn’t that stupid though. He’d find a place to sleep, a motel or something and try again later. Sounded more like him, anyways.

Niall succumbed though, observing his stupidly gorgeous face and missing the way he looked at him like Niall was his everything. Even with his dumb cheeks all red and seemingly frostbit, Harry was the prettiest sight he’d ever come across and he felt mad lucky to have him at all. He tucked his hands inside the blanket and entangled them through Harry’s to fasten around his back in a desperate embrace. “You eejit, you could’ve died,” he murmured into Harry’s jumper. He could feel the vibrations of his hummed response and chuckled.

Missing Harry was the hardest thing he’d gone through. His studies weren’t enough to distract him and seeing the other couples at uni only made him miss him more. It reminded him of how lonely he felt and it sucked. Niall was sure Harry felt the same way, but it was different. He was in the working world, where everything was busier and more adept to consume the human mind. Or at least he figured it was like that.

Niall had so much time he’d updated videos every other day out of boredom.

“I just missed you so much, I _had_ to see you.”

Niall rubbed his nose against the soft fabric of Harry’s sweater. “Should’ve said somethin’ in advanced. I can’t have ya dying on me front porch, Hazza.” Harry laughed at that, burying his face into the crook of Niall’s neck. He glanced at his watch and smiled.

“Hey,” Harry whispered.

“What?”

“Merry Christmas, Niall.”


End file.
